This is one of those stories that you are told as a child. Of magic, of monsters, of ancient times. It is the story of a man who travelled all lands. A man chased away from his town because he was curious, because he questioned the world around him. Since he was kid he did not believe that the king was God and couldn’t stand how the old man made everybody serve him.

The king and his cronies had been ruling for as long as he could remember, and had slowly turned every day into a deep and blinding night in which nobody could recognise what was right or wrong, up or down, night and day. During one of his moments of most painful despair our man finally decided to leave, but to escape the guards he knew he needed to stay far from preying eyes. 

After gathering his strength and courage one day he started digging in the bare rocks that surrounded his modest home till he found an opening that looked like a passage. Scared and aware of the king’s thugs he had to leave in a hurry and as the opening was narrow he had to leave everything behind, carrying with him only the stories and myths that his grandmother taught him.

The cave stretched for miles and miles and he soon realised that others had been there before. He even saw some buildings, structures that others had built, maybe to reinforce some fragile rocks. Their features reminded him of his homeland awaking a warm feeling in him and yet, they all seemed to be turned upside down, as if those who built them had lost their minds. Frightened at this prospect he rushed further along his way till he reached a smaller rock chamber that appeared to have an opening, a gate flooded with light. Instinctively he moved towards it and yet in the same moment he felt his courage abandoning him, pulling him back into the darkness. What if he never left, if all this was a circle and he was again in the land of the dark king? He felt his heart sinking at the thought that it was all in vain and for the first time in his life, instead of following his curious nature he remembered an old magic ritual against evil which he repeated over and over again without daring to make his final steps towards freedom.

 

Vahit Tuna studied at the Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts with a focus on Graphic Design while already active in the Istanbul art scene since 1995. Parallel to his own works in this early phase he also supported projects of various art collectives. Tuna has taken part in many group exhibits both in Turkey and abroad, and his work is included in the collections of various museums and institutes. His first solo exhibit was held in 2002 at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. Tuna invites the viewer to re-read and re-interpret traces belonging to the mind; traces such as echoes, tone, sound and memory, through societal roles and mind-sets belonging such as ultra-nationalism and power