YEKTA ÇETINKAYA

Wishes from Hereafter

2024
 Installation project by Yekta Çetinkaya (with contributions from Ferhat Demirel)
(Wood, metal, plexiglass, 3D-printed models, fabric, sand, LED lights, acrylic paint. Dimensions: 7'x14'x12' ft.)

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Wishes from Hereafter is the result of an artist residency that engages science fiction as a form of practice and politics for imagining alternative futures, completed by the artist between 2023 and 2024 at Artengine.

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 Through a diasporic lens, Wishes from Hereafter examines the significance of traditions, narratives, and rituals that are primarily informed by nature and land, notably amid climate change, war, and globalization. Intertwining Anatolian cultural practices with a dystopian sci-fi aesthetic that draws direct inspiration from Orientalist  tropes found in Western popular culture amd media, Wishes from Hereafter presents alternative perspectives of the present, predictions of the future, and creative approaches to reimagining the past.

The monument located at the center of the work which takes its form from a motif found in Anatolian kilims (tapestries), simulates a wishing tree, a tradition where strips of cloth, ribbons, or prayer beads are tied to trees as a healing ritual or to wish for good health. The metal bars that spear the tree-like structure present contradicting implications; they extend out resembling branches while also suggesting a violent act.

The artifacts that are found throughout the space on a bed of sand pay homage to the practice of shadow play, an ancient tradition of storytelling prominent in Anatolia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The figurative imagery digitally drawn by Ferhat Demirel (contributor) that narrates scenes of rural life and migration are laser cut onto wood and positioned inside these sculptural objects alongside 3D printed forms to construct mini theater sets. These fictional artifacts contain and transmit  stories that explore our relationship with natural environments.

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