Betül Aksu

Permessus
2024-ongoing

Permessus is an evolving body of work that imagines an ancient city with no fixed borders and no definitive past. The city is never fully uncovered. Instead, it reappears in shifting forms through different materials, media, and interpretations.

The project began as a personal response to the experience of navigating work permits and bureaucratic systems. Over time, it expanded into a broader exploration of how access, restriction, and control shape our sense of movement, freedom, and belonging.

Each phase of Permessus unfolds in layers. The past is suggested through photographic impressions of half-buried ruins. The present emerges through fragile clay forms and construction materials. The future remains open, hinted at through intuitive gestures and imagined oracles.

The series includes installations, photographs, videos, printed matter, and sculptural works. Red clay sourced from Izmir and elements of contemporary construction recur throughout the work, grounding it in a dialogue between memory and invention. Through these shifting forms, Permessus explores how imagined places can challenge the structures and systems we navigate daily, offering new ways to question what we accept as fixed or given.

Permessus, First Phase
Date of Appearance: May 24, 2024 - August 31, 2024
Location: AVTO

The first phase, presented at AVTO, explored Permessus as a city still being revealed. Through raw images of partially uncovered columns and fragmented objects, the exhibition questioned how boundaries are normalized and how alternative histories might emerge. The exhibition invited visitors to reflect on how borders are constructed and how imagination can challenge these limits.

Permessus, Second Phase
Date of Appearance: June 25, 2024 - December 21, 2024
Location: SAHA Studio

In the second phase at SAHA Studio, Permessus developed further through material exploration. Photographs of horizontal, partially exposed columns were paired with clay and concrete works to investigate the relationship between fragility and permanence. The phase also included open studio days, where discussions with visitors expanded the inquiry into new forms of coexistence and speculative futures for the city.

Betül Aksu, one of SAHA Studio 8th term artists, talks about her ongoing project Permessus.