Haus N is pleased to present the group show I heard it from the valleys curated by Eva Vaslamatzi with: Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, Aslι Çavuşoğlu, Anastasia Douka, Marina Papazyan, Evi Souli and VASKOS (Vasilis Noulas and Kostas Tzimoulis).
The show presents a series of new productions linked through techniques, narratives and symbols related to the expansive field of folk art. Artists are confronted with these traces of the recent past, retrieved and transferred through their work in an attempt at connecting or distancing themselves from them. Folk production and forms of knowledge, mainly anonymous, are approached here as a field of inspiration and possibility for understanding forms and behaviors which function individually and independently from grander national narratives. Each work, with references to textiles, ceramics, dance, folk medicine and fairy tales amongst others, is a reminder of different models of life, production and economies linked often with provincial regions, the pre-eminent spaces where folk art flourishes. While also incorporating the notion of the urban landscape as an ongoing province, the exhibition focuses on the constant reliance of humans on their environment and the transfer of these relations into the material world.
The exhibition I heard it from the valleys is the result of the participation of Eva Vaslamatzi (SNF Artworks Fellow) in the Curatorial Residency Program at SAHA Association in Istanbul (May-June 2021) made possible by the Artworks association and with the support of Stavros Niarchos Foundation.