Backyard and Façade (2008, Istanbul) exposes the use of an early 19th century –the so called baroque and western- architectural site, Ihlamur Kasrı (Ihlamur Palace), to a narrative which fancies fictive characters to go around cultural, social and practical rituals. Built as a lodge for the Sultan to stay during the nights of hunting and archery, the palace and its surroundings today serve to be a decor for brides and grooms as they pose for their wedding photography. The piece reproduces the cult of western influence on the orient and imagines the cultural artifacts in a staged wedding. The hunting ceremony and a copy-paste Westernization are the other ends in the picture. As the garden gradually leads the visitor (also the viewer) into neglected shrubbery, the spatial postures and personas undergo erratic changes. The representation of space evolves in the eyes of the viewer; the story hunts, digs and tries to understand how people relate to land, and how they cultivate it.
