This body of work “Ne İlyas Ne Cemşit” (Neither İlyas Nor Cemşit) is based on the movie “The Girl with the Red Scarf”, based on Chinghiz Aytmatov’s novel of the same name.

 

The movie features two main male characters and a female character who has to choose between them: Cemşit, İlyas and Asya. At the end of the movie, Asya’s dilemma to choose between the man she loves; İlyas and the kind-hearted Cemşit, conveys a fundamental message. Asya’s existence, self-worth, survival and her possibility of being loved seem to depend on this choice. Eğrikavuk’s performative photography work offers Asya a third alternative.

​

Just before the International Women’s Day on March 8, I wanted to offer a different approach to women’s ability to make their own choices, while changing the existing cult stories. Therefore I created this slogan, “Ne İlyas Ne Cemşit” (Neither İlyas Nor Cemşit), and printed it on a tshirt. I imagined a different alternative, in which Asya chooses neither of those men, but herself. 

 

 As part of the exhibition, a live performance, two photographs, a video excerpt and the performance documentation as well as the T-shirts were displayed at Perform İstanbul.