On December 28, 2011, an intelligence report about a possible guerrilla group was given to the Turkish military. Consequently, the air force ordered an airstrike with limited information about a “suspected terrorist leader,” knowing that there may be civilians in the group. 34 out of 35 villagers in the group were killed.
There were no “terrorists.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan quickly moved in to conceal the incident. First, he offered approximately $10,000 US dollars per person; later he increased this to around $50,000. Demanding justice, families steadfastly rejected the offer. Erdogan attacked the opposition, and shamelessly likened the incident to abortion, saying that women kill their babies.
As part of this project, I visited Roboski village in August 2012 (at a time when the fragile peace process between the Turkish State and the Kurdish Gurellia Group, PKK, collapsed). Ferhat Encu and Veli Encu kindly hosted me in their home. I shot numerous silent video portraits. The mothers insisted that they appear in the videos with photographs of their sons. They held and hugged the frames. Every time I see the families in the media, I can recognize them with the same picture in their hands. The photographic object is intrinsically tied to the idea of the impossibility of death.
It has been ten long years since the massacre. Looking back, seeing is not merely witnessing but also recognizing the void—the void of justice.
Still Life Book Project
Still Life is published by Newgray in May 2018. ISBN 978-0-9836031-3-9
The project is dedicated to 34 young souls from Roboski village, Şırnak, Turkey, who were brutally killed by the Turkish State on December 28, 2011, in an airstrike. All proceeds from the book will go to Roboski Families.
Thanks to: Ferhat Encü and the Encü Family for their hospitality and help. Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development for their generous support. Special thanks to Joumana El Zein Khoury.
As part of this research, I published “Collateral Damage, Condolence and the Aesthetic of Impossibility Justice” in Aesthetic Justice, edited by Pascal Gielen and Niels Van Tomme. Valiz, Amsterdam. 2014
STILL LIFE BOOK PROJECT
Newgray, 2012
DEPO Istanbul Exhibition
May 2022
As part of the Temporary Assembly of Living Things, which brought together three related projects that have never been exhibited in Turkey.
Temporary Assembly of Living Things
DEPO Istanbul, 2022
Still Life (2012-16) is a documentary-based conceptual video composed of silent video portraits of the Roboski Families. Through durational images, the work highlights the political agency of the victims’ relatives in the face of injustice and continuing state violence and harassment.
The exhibition booklet can be downloaded here: https://www.depoistanbul.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/TemporaryAssemblyofLivingThings-HakanTopal-Depo-Booklet.pdf
As part of the exhibition Temporary Assembly of Living Things, which was on view at Depo until July 8, a conversation was held with the participation of academic Dr. Gurur Ertem.
This exhibition was reviewed by art critic Evrim Altug for DuvaR newspaper: https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/zaman-ayarli-afetin-gecici-meclis-tutanaklari-makale-1570958
And an Artforum Magazine review, by Kaya Genc will be available in September, 2022.