Friendship—especially within the collective structures of artists—is often ambiguous, situational, and fluid. If a general rule is needed, it could be that this type of friendship inherently involves coping with loss. Because when we decide to be friends, we instinctively know that this relationship will eventually end, in one way or another, with the loss of one friend. This is why we often feel a natural urge to maximize the time we have, trying to fit infinity into this limited space. Furthermore, the time after the loss also becomes a prolonged part of the friendship. Just as in everyday life, we cope with loss by carrying the routines of the lost into our own lives, speaking to them, answering on their behalf, or metaphorically internalizing them, the legacy of friendship in artistic collaborations often surfaces similarly. It may even manifest while the friendship or collaboration is still ongoing, as each artist reappears, in one form or another, within the other’s work.
In this conversation between Fatma Belkıs and Sevgi Ortaç, the two artists will pose questions to each other about their practices. Drawing on their works that explore history and legacy, friendship and childhood, they will delve into the absent, the longed-for, the haunting, and those they seek to connect with.
Fatma Belkıs was born in Antalya in 1985 and now lives in Istanbul. Her practice focuses on stories of individuals undergoing transformation, often collaboratively. She works primarily with text, video, and printed materials. Belkıs examines structures built on friendship and solidarity, questioning the contracts within them and their breaches. She aims to create a network centered on concepts such as loss, mourning, negotiation, conflict, assimilation, disappointment, and failure. Her works have been featured in events like the Istanbul Biennial and the Sharjah Biennial, as well as institutions such as SALT, Istanbul Modern, DEPO, nGbK, and Tensta Konsthall. Her films have also been screened at international film festivals in Turkey and abroad.
Sevgi Ortaç (1984, Istanbul) studied film and fine arts. She has a short film Singlewallcity (2006) and an artist book The Monument Upside Down (2010) both on the ancient land walls of Istanbul. She participated in local and international art and research projects on urban transformation, right to the city, and local resistances. In collaboration with Aslı Kıyak İngin, she has organized talks, publications, and exhibitions under the projects ‘Made in Şişhane’ and Crafting Neighbourhoods (2012-2016) focusing on the relationship between craft and urban spaces, as well as craft education. In 2022, her speculative dictionary work about the ancient castle of Mardin called Commanding Heights was published. In 2023 she produced and directed Small Finds, an essay film reflecting on archeological excavations of the ancient city of Olympos. She has participated in right to the city and urban food collectives such as Initiative for the Preservation of the Historic Yedikule Gardens, DÜRTÜK-Producers and Consumers in Resistance and KUÇE food collective. She has been teaching contemporary art and documentary film making courses at Koç University since 2017.
