Hayy Open Space is hosting the SOOT from Abkhazia between September 27 and October 26, 2024 in collaboration with maumau, Auada Gallery,
In a fire that broke out on January 21, 2024, in the storage of the Abkhazia National Gallery located in the capital of Abkhazia, Sukhumi, many historical artefacts and archival documents were irreparably destroyed. A tiny portion was saved with the help of artists and art lovers. Witnessing this destruction, artists invited ten creators from different disciplines to produce new works using their styles, ashes, and the remaining materials to reproduce the past, bringing it back to existence and leaving a new historical note as witnesses of this disaster. The exhibition, which was held last month at Barın Han in Istanbul, features the works of Asida Akhuba, Adamur Arshba, Apsha Hagba, Astanda Çamagua, Batal Capua, Sabina Kvarçeliya, Diana Hintba, Oleg Çediya, Saida Kvitsiniya, and Sipa Labahua, and will be on display at Hayy Open Space under the curation of Denef Huvaj and Sine Ergün from September 27 to October 26.
The SOOT exhibition is about the hidden treasures of memory, which were reduced to ashes after the fire due to the tragic loss of art pieces shedding light on the past. The fire destroyed works that signified a nation’s history, collective consciousness, and identity, yet these losses marked not an end but the beginning of a creative rebirth.
Through their works, transformed from what remains, the artists reveal the resilient nature of art and human memory by creating entirely new meanings and forms from the ashes of lost pieces. What is hidden in these ashes is a memory and a reflection of the struggle for existence, bringing together the fragmented pieces of identity and demonstrating how these fragments can form a new whole.
The exhibition seeks answers to the questions of how we can exist again and rebuild our identity after significant losses and amidst all political struggles. Through the SOOT exhibition, art becomes instrumental in this long search for identity and struggle for existence. Far from passivity and stagnation, all this effort, extending itself elsewhere and bridging gaps, reaches its audience here.
The exhibition is open to visit at Hayy Open Space on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 1pm-6pm.
Visual design: Selenay Aktepe & Eli Bensusan