Developed during his residency at GATE 27 in Ayvalık, this project offers a stark and poetic reflection on the Aegean not as a postcard-perfect tourist destination, but as a space entangled in political, geographic, human, and historical tension.

Rather than presenting familiar images of artificial vitality, Kulaksız’s photographs depict a silent unease. The solitude of lives suspended between two nations. As Beral Madra notes in her curatorial text, “How can the deep, uncanny, and complex order of the Aegean be represented through photography? Fully aware of the impossibility, Kulaksız approaches this charged geography with a method of reduction—offering serene, silent, and solitary images of the sea illuminated by a quiet light.”

Framing repetition as a form of passive resistance, the artist employs formal and conceptual recurrence to reflect on contemporary systems of consumption, politics, and social structures inviting viewers to engage in a quiet yet potent confrontation.

The photographs were taken between 39.41 and 39.26 North Parallels and 26.55 to 26.68 East Meridians.