Output details

Transitions 1. Transitions 2.

a. Transitions 1. Permanently sited artwork, Plaza of the Municipality City Council Offices, City of Eskisehir, Anadolu, Turkey. (brick, steel, L5m xH1m, reduction fired brick)

b. Transitions 2. Temporary artwork sited at the City Centre, Eskisehir, Anatolia, Turkey (brick shavings, 2.5m L, bush fired on site)

Brief description

Heeney’s permanently sited artwork investigated the relationship of traditional and contemporary Turkish culture. Heeney’s research focused on Turkish women, and how her brick art can allow them to understand their culture and reconnect with their traditions through participatory exploration.

Heeney was one of 12 international artists invited to the 4th International Terracotta Symposium, Eskisehir, Turkey, by the University of Anadolu and the Municipality of Eskirshire to develop artworks for site-specific locations around the city. The project was supported by the University of Anadolu and the Municipality of Eskisehir, Turkey, the Turkish Brick Industry (www.kilicogu.com.tr), and University of Wolverhampton.

Research Rationale

Heeney used indigenous colour and firing methods of brick as metaphor for the transition of women within Turkish society: As the women carve with Heeney, they remove thousands of negative scrapings to reveal the sculptural form. Fired in a traditional bush firing, the scrapings become a metaphor for traditional crafts left behind by modern Turkey. The sculpture (head) itself is dismantled and fired by contemporary methods and displayed as individual elements in the city plaza as a metaphor for the modern transition of the women and the city/society which now embraces them.

Strategies Undertaken

Heeney worked with seven Turkish women who provided a series of narratives about their traditions and future aspirations; their families and changing role in society. She investigated firing methods and colour palette of the indigenous brick clay. She explored two types of firing to arrive at her outcome: contemporary electric firing to change the normal colour palette and create vitrified reflective surfaces; and the traditional method of bush firing not normally used for brick to create a rich colour palette.