The Gezi Martyrs and Visual Resistance in Turkey (Part 2) Paving Stones and a Little Prince Christiane Gruber | June 15, 2017 Current Events, Visual Culture While the martyrs of Gezi were enlivened through slogans, demonstrations, street art, and ephemera, they also found a virtual resting place within the movement’s eponymous park. During the first two weeks of June 2013, Gezi Park became a veritable tent city. Within this thriving commune, a range of political, cultural, and artistic activities unfolded... Read the rest of this entry
The Gezi Martyrs and Visual Resistance in Turkey (Part 1) “They Are Among Us” Christiane Gruber | June 1, 2017 Current Events, Visual Culture During summer 2013, Turkey witnessed the most serious challenge to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decade-long rule. In Istanbul and other major cities throughout the country, demonstrators took to the streets en masse to voice a host of grievances against the prime minister and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Encompassing a broad and eclectic swath of the country’s population, the resistance gave voice to Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, feminists, members of the LGBT community, secularists, Marxists, anti-capitalist Muslims, environmentalists, university students, and everyday citizens. Although the uprisings have abated, their after-effects continue to ripple across all spheres of Turkish life to the present day... Read the rest of this entry
A ‘Baptized’ Qurʾān? On a Unique Illuminated Manuscript at the University of Otago Majid Daneshgar | May 18, 2017 Images & Intersections / Libraries & Collections, Visual Culture AboutImages & Intersections Apart from various errors in the qurʾānic text itself, my report addresses the illuminations and ornaments used in MS 11. These elements, which coincide with those commonly used in Christianity, have prompted me to call this manuscript a ‘baptized’ one. That is, by adding these elements, the copyist may have intended to visually mark this Qurʾān as associated with Christians or Christianity somehow... Read the rest of this entry