Fatma Bucak’s installation Fantasies of Violence comprises of 117 double-sided zinc printing plates, each of which is etched with abstract markings derived from representations of violence.
These images have been taken out from recent newspapers that the artist has collected, first from Turkey and later from France and America, where public spaces have been increasingly and insidiously militarised. The original photographs typically include depictions of police violence, reflecting the mass influx of images that infer the ‘state of emergency’, where the broader global tendency has been to suspend civil rights and protections, particularly for minorities, to the point of normalisation.

The abstraction of the markings breaks the images down into the basic compositional lines, as if to find the ‘bones’ of the image. This is a way for the artist to reach the reality behind the represented violence and address how our perception of it is communicated.

On the reverse face the plates show the acid erosion produced during the etching of the images onto the metal, which was achieved using the intaglio technique that the artist has had specialised training in. The fine lines of the anterior etchings are contrasted with the consumed raw metal on the back. These numerous plates are not actually being used to print onto paper, but instead become the focus of the work. The use of metal is an important aspect of the installation, being a cold and clinical material that can itself be used for weaponry.

Fatma Bucak lives and works in London and Istanbul.
The installation is on display at Göteborgs Konsthall. Visitors are invited to ask a gallery host if you would like to see the front-side of a metal plate.

Supported by Atelje Larsen, Helsingborg and SAHA Association – Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey
The work is commissioned for Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA) 2017

Photo
Fantasies of Violence, installation view WheredoIendandyoubegin – On Secularity, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art 2017, Göteborgs Konsthall. Photo Hendrik Zeitler.