A Flâneuse in Sinope

July 2023 - July 2024
SİNOP

Since establishing cities has been accepted as a masculine activity in the ancient times, city founders were selected among male heroes or mythological gods. However, Sinop, an ancient port city located on the Black Sea coastline, was named after a female founder named Sinope. Sinope not only gave Sinop city its name, but also caused Sinop to be imprinted in memories as the place where the Mother Goddess cult and matriarchy lasted for many centuries. The passage from the Greek mythology Bibliotheca, “No man could subdue Sinope,” indicates Sinope’s character as a strong and warrior Amazon. On the other hand, masculine violence incidents in the Boyabat district of Sinop cause the women of the region to be subdued and silenced. “A Flâneuse In Sinope” project focuses on the masculine violence and femicides in the Boyabat district of Sinop.

The project will establish a relation between the women of the district and Sinope, the female mythological character whom Sinop was named after, which will be covered with a metaphoric approach. Urban memory, women’s public space struggles and local policies will be collectively questioned in a relational context during face-to-face meetings with the women of the district, who experience male violence instead of the beauties of the district they live in. The collaboration with women in Sinope’s city aims to enable women to express their expectations on equal rights and freedoms, to re-remember the matriarchy which has long been forgotten, and to uncover collective conscience. In the artistic works to be created in the light of the dialogues, Sinope will be portrayed as a flâneuse city-founder character. The entire process will be made visible through an exhibition and the accompanying exhibition speeches. The project, which will take place in the city of Sinope, who represents the will, power and victory of women, aims to elaborate on another universe of possibilities with the local people and share women’s hopes on the region they live in.

Azize Reva Boynukalın

Born in Ankara in 1984. She graduated from the Atatürk University Kazım Karabekir Educational Faculty Art Education Department in 2005. She completed her graduate degree in 2009 at the Gazi University Institute of Educational Sciences, Department of Professional Art Education. She received her Doctor of Arts degree from Gazi University Institute of Fine Arts with her thesis “Visual Metaphors in Artistic Expression.” Having participated in numerous national and international activities, such as symposiums, workshops, biennials, etc. as well as many exhibitions, Boynukalın’s works focus particularly on the textural and qualitative similarities of the organisms which comprise the body, cellular structure, sky, underwater and topography system. Creating in the artistic practices such as painting, digital picture and installation within the framework of concepts such as singularity, plurality, uncertainty, interaction, etc., Boynukalın explores ways to express, particularly in her installation works, connotations and different expression possibilities of daily objects, other than their main narratives. Azize Reva Boynukalın continues her artistic creation activities and academic career at the Sinop University Fine Arts and Design Faculty Painting Department.

This page is published on 7 December 2023.