nereli eki 0: nereli
nereli eki 1: göçmen
nereli eki 2: Vranofçalı
nereli eki 3: Nergizli
nereli eki 4: Karşıyakalı
nereli eki 5: İzmirli
nereli eki 6: Egeli
nereli eki 7: Türkiyeli
nereli eki 8: Akdenizli
nereli eki 9: Makedon
nereli eki 10: Yugoslav
nereli eki 11: Orta Doğulu
nereli eki 12: Batı Asyalı
nereli eki 13: Dünyalı
Photos: Ege Canpolat & Cevahir Akbaş
An exploration of the question of where I am from, starting from the street where I first opened my eyes to the world, and expanding over time in an ever-widening circle.
Betül Aksu: wherefrom affix is a linguistic proposition, in which the state of being "from somewhere" evolves and shifts through the use of the "-li" suffix in Turkish. In step zero, it examines the grammar rule itself, and in the following steps, it looks at how this rule is applied and the shifting state of belonging to a place. We witness a journey over time, from being an immigrant, to being from Vranofça, Nergiz, Karşıyaka, Izmir, Aegean, Turkish, Mediterranean, Macedonian, Yugoslav, Middle Eastern, West Asian and from the Earth. As we follow the steps, we see that the state of being from a place is inflected both by the first-person singular (İzmir-li-y-im) and by others (İzmir-li değil-sin).
I approached this work by focusing on the tension between feeling a sense of belonging to a place and being from a place. I wondered whether transforming a root, assumed to be fixed, into a suffix could create a space for belonging within the structure. I explored whether this space could accommodate both my own subjectivity and that of others who come from different places. In doing so, I became hopeful that I could examine belonging and its bureaucratic carbon-copy, identity through a living language.
Exhibition2025 v,o,w,e,l,h,a,r,m,o,n,y, Betül Aksu & Memed Erdener, Hayy Open Space, Izmir
Press
2025 review Dünyalı Olmak ya da Olmamak, Ozan Özkan, Sanat Dünyamız, 204, sf. 142-147 (TR)
review “Ses Uyumu”na deri-ben üzerinden bir yaklaşım, Ezgi Ceren Kayırıcı, Argonotlar (TR)
interview s,e,s,u,y,u,m,u, Merve Akar Akgün, ArtUnlimited (TR)
video Betül Aksu ve Memed Erdener - s,e,s,u,y,u,m,u - Hayy Open Space, İzmirArt (TR)