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UMBILICAL CORD


An exploration of the idea of human interaction that starts even before our birth.
The interaction that forms in the womb between a mother and child.

Umbilical Cord

Pearls wrapped in silicone

60' and 3''

8 pounds and 7 ounces

2021

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I made Umbilical Cord to explore my relationship with my mother. My mother and I have been almost entirely apart since I was 7 years-old. While I was young, she would leave for Russia to work and would only come back home twice a year. After my high school graduation, I moved to Turkey and then to the USA. The distance between us became even greater, and we see each other even less than before. Because of this distance, our relationship has evolved through digital communication via phone calls, voice messages, and texts. Umbilical Cord represents that long-distance relationship.

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Photo - Sasha Zar

 

CONNECTION


experimental short film

 

Connection

Experimental short film

14 min, 25 sec.

2021

In Connection, I recorded real-life footage of the cord. The camera continuously follows the cord from the beginning until the end without any cuts. I used voice messages that my mother sent to me over the years: where she is happy, sad, proud, upset, and angry at me. I distorted the sound so that no one would understand the words that she is saying, but I wanted to preserve the emotional content at the heart of her messages, in the same way, that babies hear their mothers speech. Babies cannot understand their mothers’ speech while in the womb, but can feel her emotions.

THE WOMB


Nomadic Art Installation
 

 

The Womb

Immersive Installation 

2022

 

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I decided to add one final addition to this series to create a complete immersive

experience. For this, I found a tent that by its shape and portability reminded

me of Kyrgyz booz ui (yurt), a nomadic dwelling that has been used by Kyrgyz people for thousands of years and is a significant part of Kyrgyz culture. The yurt represents the family, the earth, and the universe. The same way Kyrgyz yurts

traveled with nomads, The Womb will travel with me and be a part of different landscapes. With this, my hope is to connect with three mothers: my human mother, my motherland, and Mother Nature.

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The Womb. Exhibited at Charles Adam Studio Project’s 5&J gallery, Lubbock, Texas, 2022

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The WombExhibited at Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2022

 

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I remember whenever I would enter a yurt back in Kyrgyzstan I would feel as if the space of the yurt hugs me and gives me comfort. With The Womb, I wanted to evoke similar feelings where visitors would feel safe and embraced, like they are in a womb.

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The Womb. Exhibited at Charles Adam Studio Project’s 5&J gallery, Lubbock, Texas, 2022

If Human interactions affect the ways we perceive and think about the world

then our first interaction in our mothers’ wombs must have affected us the

most. With Umbilical Cord, Connection, and The Womb, I wanted to portray

both the physical and psychological distance separating me from my mother. By

doing that, I now understand that no matter how far the distance is between us

that there is always a strong invisible connection that links us together. I feel like this connection has existed since before I was born. It is the connection that

binds us together for eternity.

 

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