Sürgün
Group exhibition
Group exhibition
Sürgün is a book depicting the scenery of the Galilee region and the narratives it holds through illustrated vignettes and analogies to nature. It explores the identity of the land and raises questions about colonialism, coexistence, and peace. I wanted to create an experience that is similar to visiting a place, rather than telling a story with a beginning and end, that invites people with a diverse range of opinions to dive into a tactile experience and to encourage tolerance and solidarity.
The drawings in the book show vignettes taken from daily life, observing moments of mundanity, like a palm tree growing in the gap between the bricks in a parking space or cacti growing among olive trees. Moments that show nature claiming back its place, and finding harmony with the concrete of the urban landscape and humanity, that almost seem utopian in the context of the conflicted nature of the land.
The title of the book refers to my mother’s maiden name, Sorojon—a Bulgarian-Jewish name that originates from the Turkish word Sürgün, meaning ‘exile,’ but was lost in translation. Sürgün was a system of population relocation used in the Ottoman Empire, where Jews who were exiled to Turkey and Bulgaria were required to carry the word Sürgün as their family name.
The book won the Varley Memorial Award in London, and was shortlisted for the Dozen Books Awards.
