Previous exhibited locations Framer Framed June-September 2018 and October- November Werkplaats Molenwijk. *TTFI or TNHOTR was made possible with support by SAHA and Stichting Stokroos.
chapter V; references of TFTI OR TNHOTR, video, 4:01min, 2013
For more information about each representative download PDF file
The First Turk Immigrant or The Nameless Heroes of The Revolution takes, as its point of departure, the 1960s negotiations between Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and Turkey about what we now call the guest worker. Even though ‘guest worker’ immigrants had very diverse ethnic origins they all fell under the collective noun ‘The Turk Immigrant’. Many of these men and women emigrated not only for economical, but also for political reasons. Some left under political pressure because their views were not in line with the Turkish governments of the time. But they did not flee because they gave up hope; some of these political refugees remained active in politics, while others found different ways to give form to their ideals.
By identifying a political refugee from Turkey in each country which part of the initial treatise concerning the guest workers from Turkey (under which pretext they emigrated) narratives of what I call ‘the Nameless Hero’ will come to the fore. Those who had to leave Turkey because of political reasons, silenced in their own country, acquire a voice in this project. Mostly unheard of within the popular discussion concerning The First Turk Immigrant, these Nameless He- roes kept struggling for their beliefs and, step by step, paved the path towards change.
Chapter IV is interested to develop different types of presentations by using the language of the busts which could hint to the past and yet insert an ambiguity both in the historical narrative as in the language of the monument. Thereby I envision to pair the busts of these selected figures (Chapter I) which are mount- ed on a trailer car, as a kind of “mobile monument” as well as a tribute to these unsung heroes in public space.