Breathing in the World offers the viewer a sense of otherworldliness, where a bountiful fertility might provide what one desires…
Istanbul, 9 May 2025 — Dirimart announces Breathing in the World, the second solo exhibition by London-born and -based artist Mustafa Hulusi at the gallery. On view from 23 May to 22 June 2025 at Dirimart Pera, the exhibition comprises the artist’s blissful photorealist paintings of the natural world of fruits and flowers, alongside a sound work.
The exhibition subtly poses a paradoxical question: ‘How is it that we undergo experiences that are deeply pleasurable while experiencing a sense of dread as if something sits off-screen?’ The exhibition centres on an experience within an idealised and unsustainable Arcadian idyll. The soft, painterly style invites a crystalline clarity, presenting a sense of otherworldliness, where a bountiful fertility might provide what one desires.
The sound work Beyond an Acid Horizon invites the viewer to a chorus soundscape of birdsongs fused with synthesiser processing, presented on a multiple-speaker structure. The birds’ refrains and audible conversation with the machine evoke the unseen amidst the clear skies of a simulated Cyprus.
Many of the images originate from Cyprus, the artist’s geographic origin. From the early 20th century, the colonial administration governing the island directed it towards becoming an enhanced smallholder-owned farming plantation, driving the economy by exporting crops including citrus, crab, tobacco, and watermelons. The exhibition allegorically reflects historical contexts stretching from colonial pasts to contemporary war politics.
Breathing in the World will be on view at Dirimart Pera from 23 May to 22 June 2025.
