Mathilde ter Heijne – Olacak

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14 – 24 July 2010

Mathilde ter Heijne internationally renowned for her confrontative multi-media installations is presenting her latest project developed during her stay at Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center Istanbul Residency Program.

Pursuing her interest in exploring the image of women in society, the artist was drawn to the ‘Women’s Products Market’ organized by the not-profit organization Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (FSWW) and Kartal Municipality, which recently opened in the district of Kartal and where local women sell their handcrafted products. Ter Heijne gave each of the women a piece of fabric and asked them to apply their skills and express their dreams, hopes, or frustration. Each piece was to become the segment of a snake.

In Christian culture the snake is the symbol of the inferiority of women, which is exactly why Ter Heijne chose it as the symbol of empowerment for the women of Kartal. Initially the women were a little skeptical, but as they started grasping that this snake stood for networking, for helping and supporting each other, more and more women wanted to participate. Currently the snake is about 25 meters long.

On the 18th of June, the women paraded their snake in Kartal, from where they took the train and boat to Beyoğlu and ended their walk at DEPO, Tophane.
Ter Heijne asked the women a lot of questions about themselves. Their answers have been turned into a rap song by musician and rap singer Monika Bulanda whose song ‘Snake Power’ accompanied the snake walk acoustically. The snake and the song will be on display at DEPO between the 14th and 24th of July.

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