Derya Akay and Dilara Akay. Ghost Spring. Vancouver: DDOOGG and grunt gallery, 2018.

Edition of 10

"In January of 2018, grunt gallery produced the exhibition 'Ghost Spring' a two-person show by Dilara Akay and Derya Akay looking at funeral practices within their own family in Turkey, passing down information from one generation to the next. This mother and son team re-created the rituals around death for some lives who are not considered grievable. The artists produced an installation and a series of activations that explore ways to deal with ghosts/griefs of many geographies/generations and experience ways to coexist— focusing especially on food that is presented to, and eaten for, the dead. The works in the gallery included garlands and flowers, texts and drawings as offerings to their ancestors" (grunt gallery, writing adapted to reflect a past tense)

2nd image from the exhibition at grunt gallery.

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Derya Akay (b. 1988) is an artist living in Vancouver. Select solo exhibitions include with bread,, Campbell River Art Gallery, 2017; Pumice, Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles, 2017; Painting with Light, Kunstverein Toronto, 2015; Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Supper, Centre A, Vancouver, 2014. Recent group exhibitions include The Lulennial II: A Low-Hanging Fruit, Lulu, Mexico City, 2018; Nature's Way, Cooper Cole, Toronto, 2017; HERE, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, 2017; Ambivalent Pleasures, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2016. He recently completed the project Mantı, Börek, Baklava at the Burrard Marina Field House Residency, hosted by the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver). For this project Akay worked with elder women with immigrant backgrounds to host a series of cooking workshops and lunches open to the public.

Dilara Akay "... In today’s contemporary art context of Turkey Dilara Akay is an artist and activist with multipurpose intentions. Her meticulously crafted metal sculptures, found object assemblages, ready-mades and installations expose clear and imaginative reference points to feminist values and principles, follows the path of Post-modern surrealist methods of three dimensional production and casts a spell of sensation and to the gaze of the society of spectacle. Her public art and performances extends her concepts and opinions on women emancipation, imposed gender identities, forms of political dominance on individual and social life, on manipulation of tradition and Modernism. Her works reflect her experience of finding her inner forces for social commitment as well as convey an energy to convince people to associate their experience with her work..." Beral Madra