MUSSAKHAN
During Günaydın's SAHA residency, the word Mussakhan, cut from metal in the custom Hamaset typeface, was installed on a T-Wall Barrier mold, echoing the concrete walls used in the West Bank's so-called "Wall of Apartheid." The work was exhibited at the İstanbul Manufacturer Retail Center.
The First Passage of Konvolut: MUSAKHAN
(Produced as part of my residency at Saha Studio in Istanbul, Turkiye, 2024.)
MUSAKHAN anchors OPUS’s exploration in a profoundly historical and political context. Musakhan is a national Palestinian dish with sumac-spiced chicken, sweet onions, pine nuts, and taboon bread. More than a culinary tradition, it is a cultural signifier of home, resilience, and historical continuity. Within OPUS, Musakhan is not just food but a text; its preparation and consumption are a performance embedded in layers of meaning.
MUSAKHAN collapses temporal and spatial boundaries, positioning the act of cooking within an environment of conflict. It underscores how everyday practices such as preparing a meal persist in the face of violence, turning the kitchen into a space of resistance and cultural preservation. Through this, MUSAKHAN embodies a historical palimpsest where personal and collective memories overlap, inscribed within the broader politics of displacement and belonging.
Powder-coated metal, 300 x 200 x 132 cm.
View from the "MUSSAKHAN " at IMÇ.
View from the "MUSSAKHAN " at IMÇ.
View from the "MUSSAKHAN " at IMÇ.