Exhibitions / Solo
A Nomad's Tale
Halka Sanat Galeri, Caferağa Mh., Kadıköy, Istanbul
2 June – 28 June 2018
A Nomad's Tale was my first major solo exhibition developed from the extraordinary drawings attributed to Mehmet Siyah Kalem. Rather than treating them as historical illustrations, I approached them as companions in the city. Their strange figures became guides through contemporary Istanbul, allowing me to explore architecture, memory, politics and everyday life through a dialogue across six centuries.
Produced during my residency with Halka Sanat Projesi, the exhibition brought together sculpture, installation and drawing that responded directly to the experience of living and working in Istanbul. The works combined found materials, traditional craft, fragments of architecture and contemporary observation to create a new visual narrative that sat somewhere between history, folklore and lived experience.
Rather than illustrating the past, the exhibition used Siyah Kalem's wandering figures as a means of understanding the present, suggesting that cities accumulate stories in much the same way as archaeological sites accumulate layers of material evidence.
The exhibition was documented by filmmaker Yavuztan Inam during its presentation at Halka Sanat Projesi.
A Nomad's Tale
A short documentary about A Nomad's Tale at Halka Sanat Projesi.
A film by Yavuztan Inam.
Exhibition Text
In his exhibition titled A Nomad's Tale, Richard Bartle reflects upon the observational works of 14th century miniature painter and storyteller Mehmet Siyah Kalem, holding them up as a mirror through which to view present day Istanbul and as an intermediary between Siyah Kalem's story and his own. Through this process Bartle has created a brand new body of work that combines ideas of narrative and representation with concepts of materiality, architectural idiosyncrasy, political landscapes, tradition and craft.
Bartle's work does not simply interpret Siyah Kalem's paintings, but uses them as a visual tool to rebuild a new world of encounters and connections. Therefore, he binds a nomadic vision of the 14th century Silk Road touching Persia, Anatolia and Central Asia to the 21st century cosmopolitan Istanbul which still is a gateway carrying the traits of these cultures, combined with features of a new era.
İpek Çankaya
Initiating Director
Halka Sanat Projesi
Installation Views
Selected Artworks
Selected artworks from the exhibition.
Balance Dance
2018 · mixed media
Progress of the Dervishes
2018 · mixed media
A Discussion
2018 · mixed media
Exhibition Flyer
Exhibition flyer, Halka Sanat Galeri, Istanbul, 2018.
Legacy
Looking back, A Nomad's Tale marked the beginning of a much larger journey. Through Siyah Kalem, Bartle began to understand the city differently. His drawings became a lens through which to observe contemporary Istanbul and a way of thinking about how people, places and stories persist through time.
Many of the ideas that would later emerge in The Book of Streets, The Black Pen Project and Şeytan Tüyü can be traced back to this moment, when the figures of a wandering storyteller from the Silk Road first began to reappear in the streets of a modern city.
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