Yusuf Aygeç

One More Time, 2013, oil on canvas, 170 x 150 cm

 Throughout human history, the impulse to possess has sometimes led to success, but more often to loss and disappointment. Although such losses have frequently brought regret and new beginnings, they have not prevented us from repeating the same mistakes and returning to the very beginning. This desire to acquire is often directly proportional to our ambitions, our appetite for luxury, and our enslavement to the system. At times, in response to these impulses, we have resorted to learned defence mechanisms and ignored the foul odours arising within the system. At the heart of all these ambitions and efforts to possess lies the self—the “I.” Yet we have failed to foresee how much uglier this process might become, choosing instead to remain on the sidelines, merely watching and commenting without intervening. Within this endless cycle of repetition, we have forgotten our innate capacity to use what we have learned, whether positively or negatively. Without drawing any lessons from what has happened, we continue to cling to the belief that everything might be better if only we were given “one more chance.” Yet human beings are destined to die as they have lived, and there is no opportunity to say **“One More Time.”**