Between you and I

Work by Hale Ekinci

Exhibition Dates: December 3rd - 25th, 2022

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 3rd, 4 - 7 PM

​​In Turkish, the words for "you" (sen) and "I" (ben) share common letters, and there are no gendered pronouns. Everything in the natural world is "o" in the third person, and you and I overlap intimately. This imprecise language, along with double-meaning words and absurd sayings, leaves room for playful interpretation/misinterpretation of the world. The noises we make, the symbols we draw — all that we mutually understand about each other feed our experiences. How we communicate these experiences are contextualized by the cultures we belong to and the languages (both verbal and visual) we share. Through these linguistic sentiments, in Between you and I, artist Hale Ekinci explores the intersection between "you", "I”, and "it": the immigrant, the Western, the Eastern, the woman, the lover, the human, the other, the plant, the tongue.

The structure that houses Comfort Station was initially built to be a refuge for commuters seeking shelter. In this spirit, the space is transformed into a cozy environment filled with colorful, patterned paintings on domestic textiles. These surfaces, such as the used, patterned bedsheets, hold personal and bodily history, invoking feelings of home and intimacy. Architecture, like textiles, covers, houses, and protects the body, but is historically attributed to male labor. Extending the rigid walls and sharp corners with soft fabric and crochet edgings reminiscent of women's work imagines a cuddly shelter.

The colorful mixed-media works investigate the social organization in divergent cultures by combining Islamic ornamentation painting, photo collages of cordial females, crochet, and embroidery. Having recently become an American citizen, the artist often yearns for her roots in a collective culture while embracing her individualistic tendencies. Through a femme-centric lens embellished with symbolic Ottoman patterns, such as the mighty tulip or the loving carnation, the artist reveals an ambiguity in relations, the interpretation of touch in distinct cultures, and the meanings behind humans' representation of the natural world. Photos of people get repeated or turned into humbled patterns to evolve the "individual" into "collectives" and intertwine with the floral beings.

Ekinci is captivated by the welcoming energy of femme spaces and the giving nature of these symbiotic communities of safe havens. Central to these gatherings, house plants, food, therapy, and collective crafting are brought into the exhibition. She investigates expressions of intimacy and ambiguous readings of closeness, explicitly regarding female bonds, such as holding hands, sleeping together, exchanging personal objects, sharing amulets, and being vulnerable. Accurate translation is impossible, communication is complex, and "you" and "I" are too apart; negotiating these with humor, the artist yearns for the shared letters of ben, sen.