FRAGMENTS
Disjecta membra

Şiir Özbilge Solo exhibition at ‘Dingen die niet verkopen’, Antwerp July 2023

As a subtitle for her first solo exhibition in Belgium, Şiir Özbilge chose the Latin phrase disjecta membra, which means "scattered fragments" (also scattered limbs or remains) and is used to refer to fragments of ancient pottery found by archaeologists and exhibited in museums. But also the term is used in a broader sense, to refer to pieces of ancient poetry and other literary or cultural objects which, in their incomplete form, have survived to nowadays.

Sometimes a small broken piece, for example of an ancient Greek vase, which long in the past composed a complete work of art, gives a glimpse of the beauty of the work as a whole. Perhaps the scattered form gives more room for the viewer's imagination to fill in the gaps in the history of the object and its original form.

In the latest series of works, Özbilge focuses on modern versions of disjecta membra. On pieces of manufactured ceramic tiles, porcelain plates, and other objects that were manipulated by natural forces; sea tides, wind, and sand. As a result they lose their original appearance and begin to resemble naturally shaped pebbles. Only a small detail, their unusual colouring or structure exposes their non-natural origin. These "scattered fragments" through their sea journey become something else, a hybrid of different stories, with its unique semi-natural aesthetics.

The artist uses these objects as a metaphor for individuals who, by their own will but sometimes because of their unlucky fate, have to leave their country of origin. The journey they take changes them, sometimes damaging them on many levels. She speaks from her own experience. Özbilge herself has lived in many countries: in her native Turkey, but also in Vienna, California, until she recently decided to move to Italy. Her desire to collect and paint the fragments also comes from an urge to refresh or perhaps recreate her memories of years that preceded her nomadic life. Like a piece of a broken plate evokes memories of… childhood family dinner

A piece of tile from the bathroom wall...brings memories of the first apartment. The artist uses her artistic process of working with these random, broken objects as a medium to access her most distant memories, but also to collect and bring together stories of different voices from far away places.

Text by curator Zuzanna Rachowska
Curated by Imge Ozbilge