Pınar was born in 1981 in Ankara. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Kameracı Şenol, based in Istanbul, is the most popular cameraman of
the Roman weddings in all Thrace and South Marmara regions. For the
3rd International Canakkale Biennial, Pınar Yolaçan wanted to open a
space for Kameracı Şenol for him to share his video shootings.
"Ida was shot in Çanakkale, Turkey. For this project I casted 113 women from 12 villages around
Çanakkale and I shot 25 women. These villages are within the borders of the ancient city of Troy
(Yukarikoy, Elmacik, Denizgorundu, Akpinar, Caldag, Kursunlu, Mollasanlar, Tevfikiye, Yapildak,
Cetmi, Akkoy, Kosuburnu)
I have also went to villages near the Mount Ida, also within the Trojan borders, where the first
beauty contest took place in mythology. The project takes its name from this mountain, which also
means Mother Goddess.
The series is influenced by the marble frieze's I saw at Aphrodisias, depicting women's faces
adorned with garlands of fruits and leaves. In the series Ida, I tried to recreate these Frieze's by
using women who currently live in the Dardanelles where most Roman ruins are found. I adorned
them with garlands and headpieces made out of real grapes.
The Roman sculpture tradition, and the works of art that were produced there which were sent
everywhere in the Roman Empire, were in fact made in this geography. The faces that influenced
the people who laid the foundations of Western art history and established the conventions of
aesthetics and beauty were inspired by these very same female faces who lived in this geography.
That's why I was interested to photograph them."
