Borderlands. Chapter II. Recovery.
ONGOING
Rather than capturing the physical borderline, I was interested in exploring people’s memories, feelings, and hopes. I took portraits of people from both sides, asking each of them to draw the border – not as they see it, but as they feel it. The sketches were intimate and subjective and turned into another layer of storytelling.
What began as an assigned topic gradually unfolded into a personal investigation. The project is ongoing, and the four remaining chapters explore places I have lived in. Each unfolds in a different geographical context and captures a distinct stage or dimension of the border. The methodology shifts from place to place, incorporating elements of drawing, search, performance, and self-portraiture. This story becomes Chapter II, devoted to the stage of recovery.
What began as an assigned topic gradually unfolded into a personal investigation. The project is ongoing, and the four remaining chapters explore places I have lived in. Each unfolds in a different geographical context and captures a distinct stage or dimension of the border. The methodology shifts from place to place, incorporating elements of drawing, search, performance, and self-portraiture. This story becomes Chapter II, devoted to the stage of recovery.
When countries are not at war, borders are often overlooked. The contrast between two sides blurs, becoming less linear and more complex. But silence is never neutral. I believe it is vital to observe borders during quiet times, when change is forming.
“Borderlands” started as an assignment when I was doing a fellowship in Italy. I was to go to Gorizia and Nova Gorica, the two towns that were jointly named the European Capital of Culture in 2025. My goal was to explore what was happening in the region where the slogan “go borderless” was circulating at that time. What I found out is that the area seemed borderless for some, but far not for everyone.
After World War II, the new political border left the historic city of Gorizia in Italy. In response, Yugoslavia constructed Nova Gorica almost from scratch as a modernist border town. The line divided families, infrastructures, and daily life, reorganizing the region along ideological lines. Although, after Slovenia joined the Schengen zone, the border became far less noticeable, in 2020, following the COVID pandemic, the border control has re-emerged, and now the police are still there.
“Borderlands” started as an assignment when I was doing a fellowship in Italy. I was to go to Gorizia and Nova Gorica, the two towns that were jointly named the European Capital of Culture in 2025. My goal was to explore what was happening in the region where the slogan “go borderless” was circulating at that time. What I found out is that the area seemed borderless for some, but far not for everyone.
After World War II, the new political border left the historic city of Gorizia in Italy. In response, Yugoslavia constructed Nova Gorica almost from scratch as a modernist border town. The line divided families, infrastructures, and daily life, reorganizing the region along ideological lines. Although, after Slovenia joined the Schengen zone, the border became far less noticeable, in 2020, following the COVID pandemic, the border control has re-emerged, and now the police are still there.
ongoing
The view of an image is influenced by the use of lights, position and the presentation of the image. The right use of light, position and presentation of the image can improve the view of the image. It makes the image look better than the reality.
Visual communication takes place through pictures, graphs and charts, as well as through signs, signals and symbols. It may be used either independently or as an adjunct to any other methods.
Symbolization is an important definition for this perspective. Cultural perspective involves identity of symbols. The uses of words that are related with the image, the use of heroes in the image, etc. are the symbolization of the image.
The view of images in the critical perspective is when the viewers criticize the images, and the critiques have been made in the interest of the society, although it’s an individual perspective nevertheless.
