THE HERMIT CRAB’S HOUSE

september 22 - october 21, 2023 Galeri Nev Istanbul

the hermit crab's house was inspired by a painting of a hermit crab made by can, the younger brother of ismail, a paper collector, and is dedicated to can.
the exhibition revolves around themes such as home, belonging, migration-nomadism, war, and borders.

hermit crabs, unable to produce their own shells, settle in empty shells for protection and seek new shelters when their shells become too tight.  their most vulnerable moments: their soft, naked bellies are exposed, making them easy prey. when they die, they release a chemical signal indicating that the shell is vacant and available, and the abandoned shell becomes a home for the next occupant. the idea of hermit crabs constantly searching with their temporary homes on their backs, and can, resembling a hermit crab among the cardboard in ismail’s waste cart, form the starting point of the exhibition.

"we met can while he was making pictures on waste notebooks and papers in ismail’s paper collection cart. the hermit crab in the pictures is also part of a story that can's brother read to him like a fairy tale." *

"migration points to a crisis in national-colonial privileges, inviting societies to reflect on their own identities by questioning the constants of modernity. ı see nomadism as a way of dismantling and reconstructing, a state of thinking and acting, and a process of creating a world, prompting us to reconsider our forms of imagination, categories, and ethical and political attitudes." *

"starting from the question 'how can homes and spaces belonging to everyone and no one, and other life practices, be established?' we tried to create a world with the pictures we made with can. the encounter with can and the shared experience gave rise to a simple language that is content with little, and a sense of space emerged that is unfinished, unsealed, constantly changing, and transforming as if in a perpetual state of construction." *

“çocukken bir yuva olarak yaptığımız bir kapı, iki pencere ve çatıdan oluşan o dikdörtgen basit ev de yanı başındaki ağaç da yok artık. ev, içinde yaşayanlarla birlikte bir seri üretim ürününe ya da çeşitli tüketim imgeleriyle karmaşık bir tasarım problemine dönüştü sanki. ama göçmen çocuklar o evi çizmeye devam ediyorlar. keşiş yengeçleri de yeni kabuklarına doğru yolculuklarına.”*
"the simple home we draw as children, consisting of a door, two windows, and a roof in the shape of a rectangle, and the tree next to it are gone now. the house seems to have transformed into a mass-produced product or a complex design problem with various consumption images. But immigrant children continue to draw that house. and hermit crabs continue their journey towards new shells." *

*A Hermit Crab's Journey - MELIKE BAYIK - INTERVIEW
October 9, 2023
ArtDog Istanbul 18th ISSUE /
https://artdogistanbul.com"