“Biraradalıklar / Co-existence” (Installation View), black and white digital scan from analog film printed on paper, 100x180 cm, 8 pieces, Edition 1/1, 2022–ongoing. Lokal 02 Group Exhibition, Eldem Art Space, Eskişehir 2025. Photo: Esra Eldem
Co-existence documents the fleeting and fragile moments of alignment between the human body and the natural world. Nestled among rocks, branches, and topographic textures, the body finds a momentary rhythm with these forms. In these compositions, the boundaries between the animate and the inanimate blur, creating a visual dialogue where skin and stone seem to merge into a single, temporary entity.
Each photograph seeks the traces of an ancient, primordial connection, yet simultaneously exposes its current fragility. The images act as evidence of a bond that feels instinctively familiar but practically impossible to sustain. The camera captures not just the physical presence of the figure, but the inevitable distance that remains between the subject and the landscape, highlighting the gap between modern existence and the wild.
There is a distinct surrender in how these bodies inhabit the landscape, but it is a surrender marked by a quiet unrest. The yearning for belonging is palpable within the composition; however, the subtext of the images whispers of its unattainability. This tension transforms the scenery into a psychological space where comfort and alienation exist side by side, reflecting the struggle to return to a state of nature that is no longer accessible.
Bridging the personal and the collective, the series moves between sensory and intuitive planes. It serves as a visual contemplation on the profound desire to be one with nature—and the melancholic acceptance that such unity may no longer be fully possible. Through this lens, Co-existence becomes both a documentation of an attempt and an acknowledgment of its beautiful failure.
