Alican Leblebici

Sick Dogs, 2015, acrylic and oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

In the “Tattoos” series, I sought to explore punk ideology, which continues to exist as an undercurrent in Turkey, as it does elsewhere in the world. I traced tattoos as signs of belonging and representation, marked by a desire to identify with a particular community. At the same time, I encountered the group Sick Dogs as an embodiment of opposition and resistance, and spent a period of time with them. The group’s system of thought, whose primary political objective was to allow the greatest possible degree of freedom, encompassed individualism, anti-authoritarianism, political anarchism, freedom of thought, and an ethical stance. The Sick Dogs held a pessimistic view of the world, believing that modern civilisation deliberately exerted pressure on humanity. The work’s visual language, which begins with shock, rebellion, and discontent, gradually transforms, through the messages it conveys, into an anti-fascist symbol. Rendered on canvas in a hyperrealist manner, the group seeks to communicate direct messages and to form part of a deliberately provocative stance. The work bears the traces of a visual language situated at the intersection of aesthetics and violence.