Istanbul / Constantinople 2016 - 2018
Istanbul/Constantinople
Istanbul/Constantinople is a project that stemmed from my trip to Istanbul in 2015, a quiet time between ongoing turbulence. I walked the streets of the older neighbourhoods photo-cataloguing the remarkable buildings I encountered, many in ruins. Upon my return to Canada the idea for a larger project began to develop - I would (re)build a city out of paintings, representing its diversity through a patchwork of colours and shapes that collectively make up the city. It would be a record of historic buildings slated for demolition, replaced by new development.
Buildings were being torn down in front of me- whole neighbourhoods, particularly the poorer ones where immigrants lived, had been destroyed to make room for new ubiquitous construction. The homogenization of place, the destruction of cities, their inherent histories and cultures, has become a global practice. These paintings rebuild the city in order to remember.
Over 50 independent oil paintings are assembled edge to edge in an irregular pattern that wraps around the walls. The resulting collage is approximately 60 feet in length.