Ode to Mamagızı | I, Amsterdammer, daughter of Mamagızı

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How it began:

Since 2010, ever since I started reading the (Armenian) newspaper Agos, my attention always went to the obituaries. Under the photo of the deceased, it would say, Yozgatli, Sivasli, Tokatli, etc. These are people who most likely have never been to these cities in Anatolia. Born and raised in Istanbul, their parents or grandparents probably came from there. I wondered why they did not identify themselves as Istanbulites. A few years ago, I discovered that my great-grandmother's name was Mamagızı (not a Turkish name) and that she came from Yozgat. That is the link between the obituaries in the Armenian newspaper Agos and my Amsterdam self. She was a Christian woman who, as the wife of my Turkmen Islamic great-grandfather, most likely had to convert to Islam. And his grandparents were again shamanistic, who had to convert to Islam.

I once wrote that I wanted to be buried next to my mother in Kırşehir on the Anatolian plateau. Recently, I have started to doubt this, now that an Islamic section in the cemeteries in Amsterdam is being made available for us. An obituary is very intimate, intended for family and friends, and it involves rituals and heritage. And yet it is about the same universal values and significance. Especially now in cities like Amsterdam, all gravestones, whether for Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Gypsy kings and queens, come from China and have the same shape and appearance.

This is not a project about death (where you want to be buried) but about being, being allowed to be in the here and now as a person with a history. We (new) Amsterdammers have a heritage that goes beyond the suitcase, the birthplace of our parents, which we consciously and subconsciously bring to the cities where we live and which we call our own, and a new form has emerged. So certainly not back to my roots or a political pamphlet, but a search for the (new) Amsterdammer and her place in the city, from my perspective as one of the Amsterdammers who, through an artistic path, wants to celebrate it!

Content:
Most probably Mamagızı has knitted paws as paths of connection, love, and care in "being different"  for her children and the generations after her. What songs did she hum while knitting? To which god did she pray? In what language? Her children did not call her mama, even though she was named daughter of mama (Armenian or Greek). Patiler as a symbol of warmth for the feet that had to travel long distances and make new places their own generation after generation, just like her. Thus also paving the way for me to Amsterdam. After many generations, a great-grandchild of hers, I, am called mama again. I have been called mama by my son in Amsterdam. The city of Amsterdam has made Mama mama again in its true meaning. And she has knitted the way to the Amsterdammer I have become. I, as an Amsterdammer, wonder how many people still bow at the stumbling stones in her neighborhood in Amsterdam and at the streets named after slave ships. Humanity, in the beginning (at birth), is all equal! And sometimes shoes were lost in Anatolia, as with the people Mamagızı belonged to, and in Amsterdam, as with Jews, but Amsterdam has also received, which I want to cherish and acknowledge, and give back to the city. 

About the Work "I, Amsterdammer, daughter of Mamagızı "  :
Journey | Walking | Looking at the memory of migration, historians may want to determine who came first and who came later, based on documents. But from the artist's point of view, this can never be known. Because history is an unknowable phenomenon. As a synthesis of emotional, intellectual and life experience, the time period you are in determines your approach to history. In response to the curator's commemoration of “Mamagızı” and the state of being an Amsterdammer, the artist exhibits the installation he has constructed with “human cocoons” as equality by birth and “shoe cocoons” as symbol of femininity and “golden stones” as symbol for remembering and respect for our beloved lost ones.  There are two steps. One is the Amsterdammer step and the other is Mamagızı's step as a woman. The labor and experience of the woman who takes the first step on her journey to freedom for all, fight for equality in womanhood and self-realization is told through the artwork.  

Material: Shoe Cocoons and Human Cocoons - Food stretch film (which is used in our kitchens in daily life), 12 pairs of Red Women's Shoes with Heels, Rope

Additionally, there could be the possibility to create your own object that symbolizes an ode to the women of Amsterdam in workshops with the public.

Bio - Nurnaz Deniz, granddaughter of Mamagızı and the curator in short: Strategically thinking outside the box, socially engaged, and result-oriented arts and culture professional with broad experience. At various levels, I have brought institutions and organizations, businesses, politicians, and policymakers together to serve a common goal, including in bilateral and international collaborations such as between the Netherlands and Turkey; after all, for a grand narrative, you need multiple voices. I have done this as, for example, a director of an arts museum but also as a project developer, program maker, publicist, consultant, and advisor. Diversity & inclusion, in my view, means renewal and connection; innovative bridge-building is the common thread in my career.

Bio - Haydar Akdag, the artist in short: Born in Istanbul in 1986, the artist graduated from Yeditepe University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Fashion and Textile Design with a scholarship in 2003.  The artist, who started his PhD in Art Program after his graduation, continues to work in his own art studio. In addition to his works created by using interdisciplinary method applications, abstract, organic texture-stain, geometric dominants and ready-made materials; he produces project-based works by questioning the history-space through document-discovery.  He participated in the EEA European Exchange Academy Berlin Beelitz 2014 artist program.