Füruğ/Forough (2018)

Sena Başöz investigates healing processes after trauma, focusing on the regenerative possibilities for what is frozen, dead, stale or lost. At this point in her practice, the Turkish artist mainly looks at the importance of care and an organism’s capacity for self-repair.

Füruğ/Forough is composed of hundreds of photographic portraits of taxidermied birds from the collection of the Natural History Museum of St Joseph French High school in Istanbul. These images are printed on vellum paper, with fans directed towards them. The movement created by the artificial wind results in a sound reminiscent of a bird’s wings in flight and motion-like murmurations.

In the 1990s, enforced disappearances took place in Turkey. In demonstrations against these disappearances, taking place up to the present day, family, friends and members of the public carry photographs of individuals affected. Each bird in Füruğ/Forough represents a missing person and acts as a small gesture to their memory and the ongoing search for justice. Some of the birds photographed are endangered or extinct, adding another layer of meaning to this installation.

The title comes from the first name of Iranian poet and film director Forough Farrokhzad and references her famous line, ‘Keep the flight in mind, the bird may die.’ Farrokhzad is now seen as a pioneer in modern Farsi poetry, though, unfortunately, she did not receive this recognition during her lifetime. 

The Peter Scott Gallery is part of Lancaster Arts, based at Lancaster University, reaching audiences on the university campus, online and in public spaces in Lancaster and across the North West. Lancaster Arts has a multidisciplinary programme addressing environmental and social justice. Başöz’s immersive work reflects on universal topics such as grief, loss, memory and climate change, which will resonate with audiences and with the wider creative programme.

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