Serkan Demir

Road Trip, 2017, Ceramic form and sackcloth, 23 × 23 × 20 cm

Drawing on the political realities of the Middle East, Serkan Demir seeks to construct a cultural map of impressions through his work. His 2017 solo exhibition Penalty Area, held at artSümer, focused on Syrian refugees who had been forced to migrate as a result of the civil war. Taking as his point of departure the stories of displacement witnessed across the world since 2011, as well as images encountered in the media, the artist sought to interpret these narratives through an epic visual language and render them visible. One of the works from this series, the sculpture Preparing for the Journey, consists of a ceramic house form enclosed within a sack. Hastily packed, small enough to be carried by hand, and containing something unknown, this bundle symbolises the first—and perhaps only—preparation for a journey filled with uncertainty: the sole portable form of home.