Uras Kızıl
The Positioning of Objects in Nazan Azeri’s Art
Nazan Azeri started her art career with paintings and continued with assemblages. Later, she included various practices such as performance, video, photography, installation, and ceramics in her art, but the object always played a central role in her world of ideas. This central role is so strong that they sometimes go beyond being objects and evolve into subjects, taking their place as embodied subjects in the mise-en-scene designed by Nazan Azeri. At other times, the positioning of these objects is reinforced with the participation of another subject, namely a person. The relationship between the object and the subject does not result from a relationship in which one dominates or exceeds the other. On the contrary, the relationships between the subject and the objects are articulated to the current story as actuators that contribute to cogeneration.
The Problem of Positioning
Objects become visible in Nazan Azeri’s art beginning with her early works. The artist opens the exhibition titled the “Game Installation” at the old deanship building of Marmara University in 1993 as her graduation project. She appoints this deserted building about to decay as the space the exhibition is to be held and places barbie dolls inside the alcoves in the ruins. These dolls, in addition to being the kitch toys of an era and having a place in the collective memory, are the objects of a consumption culture produced to meet certain norms as the criteria for beauty. The positioning of the dolls within the space is not limited to just the alcoves. Some of these dolls are on ramshackled wooden doors or wallboards stacked on top of each other. Some are standing while others are laying down in random positions. Some are hung on a wall. Here, Barbie dolls are brought outside the space designed for them and are positioned beyond their production purpose and activity.
At first sight, these figures give the feeling of being scattered around haphazardly within the space. Undoubtedly, such a perception results from the makeshift positions of the figures and the analogy between the transitory nature of the space and the transitory nature of the dolls’ existence. They have difficulty in finding a place in the space as if they are things that wait to be brough into daylight after a devastation. The difficulty regarding the positioning in spacetakes place by the intrinsically beautiful barbie dolls being distanced from the instrumentalism designed for them. Nazan Azeri’s design tarnishes the image designed for the barbie doll(s). Such a difficulty in positioning that takes place in the “Game Installation” emerges in the later artworks of Nazan Azeri in different frequencies as well.
The photography series titled “to Settle / not to Settle” in 1994 evidently reveals the positioning problem. In these photos, the barbie dolls are replaced by a larger scale doll. In this aptly titled work, the phrase “to Settle / not to Settle” outlied, as a language practice, thatthe problem of positioning is brought to a conceptual level. This exhibition, reeling between seetling and not settling, reveals another element that is to be encountered in Nazan Azeri’s art. This element is the subject that is the artist being included in the story as a part of the mise-en-scene. Nazan Azeri being included in the game as an artist subject can be witnessed in the exhibitions after this at times.
In “to Settle / not to Settle”, Nazan Azeri is looking for an appropriate place for the doll. The story arc takes place in abondoned spaces reminding us of the deserted deanship building. Each photograph documents the impossibility of an appropriate space. The feeling of eeriness created by the problem of positioning also passes on to the spectator. The color palette of the photographs, in addition to the environment in them, is responsible for this feeling of eeriness.
Looking at the Past with Care
Nazan Azeri opens her “Metamorphosis” exhibition in 2002. Dolls are the main characters of the exhibition as always. However, this time, they have taken on a new form with the intervention of the artist. The artist covers the body of the dolls with cotton. The method reminds us of an old endeavor, namely the tradition of growing lentils on cotton, which we all undertook when we were children. She photographs the development and decay phases of the lentils placed in cotton successively. A toy table, chair and plates accompany the setup including the dolls. While sometimes these objects take place in the mise-en-scene in a regular manner, at other times they are positioned in turned-down conditions.
This point can be accepted as a turning point in the relationship Nazan Azeri establishes with objects. Here, new objects start to be included around the patterns of dolls. These are domestic objects such as table, chair, plate, comb or brush. A reverse shift of axis takes place in the story. This reverse shift of axis is the connection the artist forms with her past and childhood. The states of being a mother, child and parent become involved and these manifest as a sort of care.
One year later, in her artwork titled “Growing Up” (2003), Nazan Azeri, this time, covers her own body with cotton.”Growing Up”, which can be defined as a processual performance, reflect various phases extending from the development to the decay of the plant, just like in Metamorphosis. What needs to be emphasized here is the change of position different from the previous examples. This change of position takes place between the subject and the object. Nazan Azeri, being withdrawn to the object position as an artist with an introspective approach, is based on her turning herself into an object of research. Such a change of position opens the scientific objectivism and knowledge production tools to discussion again and also creates possibilities for thinking on oneself at the same time. Growing plants, in addition to being an element that carries Nazan Azeri’s childhood memories and goes beyond them, also reminds us that most of us communed with this act with its place in the collective memory.
The positioning of the objects in Nazan Azeri’s art has evolved from a problem of positioning to a problem of ‘caring’. The relative suspension of the positioning problem has given birth to the possibility of looking at the past and the present within the framework of a certain type of care. The act of caring is an element that is frequently encountered in Nazan Azeri’s art. However, it is possible to think of the act of caring as an agency with different aspects. This agency displays variability according to to what/whom the care is given. Thinking as somebody else comes from the need to feel empathy with him/her. This, in turn, requires experiencing and sensing what an existance that is not fully human is like.
The problem of rigor is also observed in the video works of the artist. The video titled “A Doll”, which she created in 2000, is an example of this. In the video, the doll sitting in front of the mirror, picks up a lipstick with slow movements. The doll picks up the lipstick and starts putting it on. However, the lipstick takes on the role of a brush and treats the face like a canvas. The lipstick extends beyond the lips and is rubbed nearly all over the doll’s face. Violent lipstick blows create intense layers and cracks on the face of the doll. The camera pans centering only the eye of the figure. The cracks and layers of paint bunch together more and more and resemble food leftovers.
The video ends with the camera viewing the figure from behind and the doll watching herself in the mirror. From this point of view, the hair of the figure covers almost ¾ of the image. The face reflected in the mirror is now a vague image. Thus, a new positioning problem arises. Who is it in the mirror? Is it the doll, the artist, the artist’s past or the spectator?
The video “A Day”, dated 2001, takes the problem expressed in “A Doll” to the next level.We see the same doll, this time, dressed up, in the kitchen of a house. Nazan Azeri, as a subject actor, as in her other artworks, appears here as well. The artist, after speaking some things that we cannot hear, fills the breakfast items on the plate in front of the doll and feeds them, with a mother’s manners, to the doll sitting in front of her. A similar scene that reminds us of the “A Doll” video arises. The cheese extended by Nazan Azeri for the doll to eat, navigates all over the face of the doll just like the lipstick. It layers and bunches together. The artist insistently continues to smudge the cheese to the mouth and face of the doll.
The next sequence opens with the scene in which Nazan Azeri and the doll walk outside. The artist brings the doll she is carrying in her lap to a space that reminds us of a tea house. As they sit face to face, a waiter comes and serves tea. The camera views the artist from behind from a perspective similar to the closing scene of “A Doll”. The change of position between the subject and the object that takes place in “Growing Up” emerges once again. Nazan Azeri, this time, goes from the object position to the subject position, faces her real self as seen in the mirror. She is under the penetrating but meaningful gaze of the doll. She continues to wear her sunglasses, which she even put on indoors, here as well. Maybe, this has to do with her not wanting a reckoning with her past in such a direct manner. Who knows?
In the next sequence, the camera focuses on the lips of this duo. A silent dialogue takes place between them. A while later, the video suddenly takes on a 4 channel structure. Nazan Azeri forcing tea into the mouth of the doll is seen in 4 separate channels/the same channel. The camera shoots a close-up and focuses on the face of Nazan Azeri and the doll. The tension felt is evident for all eyes to see.
A covert violence is felt in both videos.Each element in the videos is for the purpose of increasing the level of tension. The gaze of the doll full of both life and deadness creates a sort of ambiguity in the spectator and they have difficulty in positioning themselves as participators watching the video. The spectators find themselves in a position of questioning at which point of the video they are. This is also the uneasiness the observers feel of not having an opportunity to intervene to an even that they are a part of. It is understood that Nazan Azeri, from the very beginning, includes the spectator to a problem of positioning comprised with objects. The color palette that is closer to sepia and the faint and undefinable hums from behind increase the tension. The tension of that which is unspeakable is felt by nearly all senses.
The reality that wants to be expressed in these two videos become nearly unperceivable. It gives the impression of an “episode” taken from a dream rather than reality and targets the unconscious of the spectator with an approach similar to the symbolic narrative in Luis Bunuel movies that plays between the real and the unreal.
The fundamental word valid for both videos is insistence… an violent insistence on doing an act. In both videos, we witness the aspects of covert violence surrounded by insistence. This makes us ask the following question: Is caring always a positive act? Where is domination positioned in the balance between giving and receiving? Both videos are open to endless interpetations. However, if we are to speak of a relationship to be established over food, this opens a door concerning the hierarchical positioning between the parent and the child. The fact that the child who has no say and is passive has to obey establishes another master-slave relationship.
The hierarchical and bossy attitude continues its course in the photo-series “the Guests”. In this mise-en-scene, this time, we see numerous dolls together. Dolls that have come to Nazan Azeri’s house as guests sit at length on the sofa. The tea has been served. The silence in the environment has been suddenly shattered with the falling of the tea glasses. The artist takes the control and signals the dolls to be quiet with her hand. Does this signalling movement want to convey the message that “we need to calm down, there is nothing to worry about?” Or is it a sign made to warn? In both cases, the domination increases the level of tension in the environment. The next step becomes unguessable.
From the Object of Pop to the Critical Object
Nazan Azeri’s objects, at first look, remind of the objects of Pop Art. Barbie dolls, toy forks, knives, plates, tables, combs, brushes, Superman, soccer ball, flat iron and television… These are all objects of the comsumption culture. However, they do not reproduce the consumption culture in terms of content. On the contrary, they take the objects engaged with the consumption culture out of their given meaning and give them a new and critical discourse.
Nazan Azeri’s objects wriggling out of the patterns of instrumentalism display new approaches that are open to be read within the context of new feminism. The artist’s “Meobjects” (2003) series consists of 9 photographs that place the objects of use affiliated with woman at the center. These are “objects of desire” attributed to women such as flat iron, knife, television, pot and tray. These are objects/tools that every woman must have and perform the works associated with them.
Nazan Azeri, this time, invistes Cemile, her neighbor with whom she lives in the same building during those years, to the game as a subject. Cemile holds each object in her hand and looks at these objects as well as at herself through these objects. We, as spectators, watch Cemile’s reflection on these objects. At this point, an approach that can be interpreted in the new materialist context reveals itself involuntarily. Cemile’s face, which we see from the point of view of Nazan Azeri’s camera, displays differences according to the objects they are reflected on. This situation has to do with the potential materiality of the objects. What we see on the surface does not reflect, on the contrary, in Donna Haraway’s terms, they almost create “patterns of differaction”. They make the differences visible. The spectators watch the desired states of womanhood based on the silhouette of Cemile improsened among the objects from the point of view of Nazan Azeri’s camera.
Actually, in the case of Cemile, a woman who obtains her object of desire, should display unconditional rigor. However, it is not possible to speak of a balance between giving and receiving in such a rigor. Sometimes the rigor is one sided and doesnot or can not meet with much appreciation from the other party. The “Subjectmehero” photo-series of the artist is such an example. Here, Nazan Azeri places Superman, whom we see as the savior power, at the center. Another actor that accompanies Superman is visible only in terms of her hands. Different from “Meobjects”, Nazan Azeri, here, has decided to leave the agent anonymous instead of showing her directly. The anonymous agent washes, hangs and irons the t-shirt bearing the image of Superman. In the final scene, she is beaten by the “hero” to whom she displayed care. This points out the fact that the balance between giving and receiving in this care does not work right. Care becomes valueless when it is one-sided and unconditional.