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MIKE MANDEL
CHANTAL ZAKARI
2018
7 TURKISH 
ARTISTS:
MIKE MANDEL & CHANTAL ZAKARI
MIKE MANDEL
CHANTAL ZAKARI
2009-2013

Link to see the entire archive for this project.

Link to read about the entire project

INTRODUCTION

A series of photographs, presented as single images, diptychs and triptychs, are of photo images of Turkish culture, religion, images of Atatürk, schools, advertising and Western influenced popular culture. Forty-five busts reference the omnipresence of Atatürk statues throughout the country. Made out of resin plastic these busts suggest an imperfect, degraded presence. The artists have commissioned commercially produced Chinese oil paintings of their digitally collaged images creating a parallel with the imagery of Mao from the 1950’s. The “made in China” paintings of Turkish society also recognizes the impact of the global economy within the country. The artists have collected and re-present series of vernacular artifacts, postcards that romanticize military service; a collection of front pages of the tabloid press that document the spectacle of unintended consequences: Zakari herself being proclaimed by the Kemalist press “The Girl of the Republic” after she held up a picture of Atatürk to demonstrators at an islamist march in Ankara. Over all, the installation reflects the complex relationship in Turkey between secularists, the islamist movement and military power.

The variety of visual strategies in the exhibition suggest the look of a group show. “7 Turkish Artists” is a humorous reference to this mistaken first glance and challenges the viewer to come to terms with the complete title “7 Turkish Artists: Mike Mandel & Chantal Zakari.” Until recently, Turkish artists who might wish to make art using imagery of Atatürk did so at the risk of violating laws protecting Atatürk’s imagery punishable with years in prison. ironically, for sculptors working in the Turkish public sphere the only opportunity for work was to receive a commission for an Atatürk statue for a government municipality. “7 Turkish Artists” is therefore also a deadpan reference to the limitation of making art about Atatürk, especially by Turkish artists.

This exhibit is based on the art and research in the artists' publication The State of Ata.

This project was created with the help of numerous Faculty Enrichment Grants and Travel Grants from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It was also supported a generous production budget from Kennesaw State University.

Installation Shots
INSTALLATION SHOTS
Exhibitions
EXHIBITIONS
7 TURKISH ARTISTS: MIKE MANDEL & CHANTAL ZAKARI
2017
Narratives of Conflict: Chantal Zakari, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY 
2013
7 Turkish Artists, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore MD
2011
7 Turkish Artists, Photographic Resource Center, Boston MA
2009
Ata•Türk, Kennesaw State University, Fine Arts Gallery, Kennesaw GA
1999

Seeing Ata, Basak Sigorta Galerisi, Ankara, Turkey

1998

Seeing Ata, Basak Sigorta Galerisi, Izmir, Turkey

Reviews & Press

Presenting in Jim Dow and Bonnie Donohue's classes at SMFA, Boston, March 2010

REVIEWs

Artforum (International), Mike Mandel and Chantal Zakari, by Nuit Banai, December 2011

Big Red & Shiny, Southern Double Feature by Steve Aishman - issue #105, April 2009

Cumhuriyet (Turkey), Zakari’den Atatürk fotografları sergisi - November 12, 1998
 

Milliyet (Turkey), Siz ve Onlar - November 11, 1998
 

Cumhuriyet (Turkey), Hicbir ülkenin böyle bir lideri yok - November 9, 1998
 

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