GROUP EXHIBITION

Gazelli Art House, Baku, is delighted to announce A State Of Acceptance, a joint exhibition of works fromKalliopi Lemos and Nancy Atakan, curated by Billur Tansel.

Surveying both artists’ individual creative journeys, alongside collaborative works, A State Of Acceptance willexcitingly debut never before seen artworks. Lemos’ bold and striking animated video Wasps and Jewels (2023)features the artist’s first ever NFT. While Atakan’s Searching for The Scent of Time (2023) delivers an immersiveprojection and sound installation.

In textile works such as We Are All Sisters (2021) and Don’t Step on Me! (2021), Atakan explores the role ofwomen in society, and the recognition of female voices within the patriarchy. In I Am Home (2019), Lemoscombines fabric, steel, and photography with an antique Bessarabian rug (a precious family heirloom passedon for generations) to illustrate women as carriers of family history. Wasps are a recurring motif in Lemos’artwork, seemingly symbolic of the simultaneous beauty and ‘stinging offences to women’ in Atakan’s HerYerde (Everywhere) (2020). For both artists, nature gives solace and solutions: while championing sustainablepractices in their reinvention of materials, both artists reference the transience and permanence of life-cycles– seen in Lemos’ Fleeting and Timeless (2023) and Atakan’s Cliché 2 (2020).

One of the centrepieces of the exhibition, a film of a performance the artists have realised together entitledNecklace of Time (2020), stresses the superficiality of the materialistic adornment that might be desired in youthand underlines that, as one matures, inherited values, principles, ethics and memories gain more importance.Sharing in their acquired and inherited wisdom by referencing individual experiences, Atakan and Lemosgrapple with the concerns and actualities of life. Balancing moments of treasured memories with an unnervingawareness of the rapidly changing world, this dual insight finds loci in 13th Century poem, The Guest House.

Written by Persian Poet Rumi, The Guest House stands as an analogy for human beings, where we becomespaces for ephemeral states to occupy. According to the poem, every day we receive unexpected visitors – joy,depression, meanness – and with each, an awareness. The poem implores us to be grateful for whatever comesbecause it has been sent for a reason/ as a guide from beyond. Acceptance encompasses undergoing hardships,rebellion and change through life and meeting adversities with courage, respect and warmth, taking a momentto listen, to breath, to re-evaluate. As one gets older the understanding that accepting things as they aresoftens worries and appeases concerns in our minds. A new space may open for new ideas and new ways. Witha state of acceptance, human suffering diminishes or ceases.

The case of recognising human experience has long been debated, from Ancient Eastern and Westernphilosophy – Aurelius and Epictetus – to modern thinkers such as Kierkegaard. Psychologists suggest anamelioration for the human condition and suffering; existential theorists such as Carl Rogers are creditedwith elaborating acceptance as a mechanism of self-actualization. In this exhibition, the notion and value ofaccepting oneself and others has been given great importance.

Realising memories to be valuable when facing the challenges in their chaotic present, Atakan and Lemosstrive for a state of acceptance. In sharing recollections from their personal lives, moments sacred and dear,the artists hope to encourage dialogue and interaction with younger generations.

The two artists are gifted story-tellers who combine words, images, and diverse materials to create anotherworldly and yet bonding experience. Some artworks have a story to tell, a piece of family history thatbrings together different generations’ lives, loves, and experiences in tales of wisdom, while others point outthe thorns and stings plaguing present reality. These might appear as challenges at first, but if we receive themwith wisdom, that might be our chance to reach a sense of truth and peace within.

“As women and artists, we wanted to give a voice to the unexplored experiences and feelings of women, sharedwith love, poetry and beauty to create a rich, multidimensional exhibition.”

— Nancy Atakan and Kalliopi Lemos