Pınar was born in 1973 in Van. Lives and works in Istanbul.
The Antihero’s desire for death, 2014:
The book ‘Life in the Tomb’ by Stratis Myrivilis from Lesbos that has been
banned for years, where the author questions the meaninglessness of war
based on true stories, is dedicated to women, the latent victims of war. In
the chapter ‘The Sleep of Death’, the soldier Mihal who flees in fear of war,
hides in the one-man trench he digs for himself and waits for his death. His
response to his sergeant as he gets caught is as follows: ‘I am now in a
state set for death. I am the spare, overripe, wrinkled fig on a fig tree. A fig,
crushed and crumpled, faded on its branch. Ready to fall, my soul is ready.’
Aramis have called the fig, the symbol of fertility in mythology, paganism
and monotheistic religions, ‘Idra’ with the meaning ‘soul’ and have
symbolized it as ‘a beginning and its essence’, whereas Farsis have called it
‘Ancir’ attributing to it the meaning ‘drilling, carving, destructing’ and have
considered it to be dangerous and obscene. The fig tree, which is believed
to possess both creative and destructive powers, has two types; the male
type and the female type. The female one is the one we eat the fruits of, the
fruit of the male one on the other hand, is stiff and does not ripen. Whatever
meaning it may be ascribed, the fig, ripping the earth and coming to the
world rampantly, continues to be the exemplum of the humankind: giving
birth, protecting and at the same time destructing.
For Antiheroes, 2014:
In narratives of the First World War, the ‘western front’ is highlighted
and heroism is emphasized through the Dardanelles Campaign. Yet the
destructive effect of the battles that have taken place in the eastern,
southern and northeastern parts of Anatolia can still be felt, even today.
For Antiheros, was made in remembrance of the people who died in wars
and struggles for freedom that have occurred in the recent past and also
continue today, in countries bordering or neighboring each other, especially
in the Middle eastern geography. Pınar Öğrenci uses the symbolized fig
image in “the Antihero’s Desire for Death” to build up a common wish
for peace this time and asks artists living in bordering geographies to
symbolically send her figs.
Contributors: Nigol Bezjiyan, Beirut, Lebanon; Khaled Jarrar, Ramallah,
Palestine; Lia Lapithi, Nicosia, Cyprus; Erkan Özgen, Diyarbakır, Turkey;
Ruben Arevshatyan, Grigor Khachatryan, Mkrtich Matevosyan, Yerevan,
Armenia; Evrim Kavcar, Mardin, Turkey
