Hayırlı Evlat (2017-present)
Hayırlı Evlat lives and works between Istanbul, London, and Vienna. Beginning their practice on February 14, 2017, they draw inspiration from popular culture, creating flexible and permeable character representations that exist outside the mainstream.
In their work, they reinterpret popular culture by mimicking its language and aesthetics, while simultaneously emptying them of their original content. Hayırlı Evlat adopts a soft yet constructive mode of resistance, informed by the etymological story of the word “no” during the 2017 referendum, and explores contemporary ways of being benevolent by bending and reworking this phrase imposed by others.
2024
Slow bazaar III, vitruta space, Istanbul
Fırça Darbesi: Dizilerden Sanat, with Alper Turan, published in Sanat Dünyamız
2021
A question of taste, group exhibition, cur. Ulya Soley, Pera Museum, Istanbul
The Formula of Happiness, writing workshop, Pera Museum, Istanbul
Getting to know Hayırlı Evlat, online artist talk, moderated by Ulya Soley
2019
Here and Where, 7th Sinopale biennial, Sinop
Hayırlı Evlat – Ç. Makbule Geçer ve Gizem Karakas Röportajı, online exhibition, Depo, Istanbul
Let Yourself Go, 2019
Hayırlı Evlat ft Musdef
Composition: İbrahim Hekim
Video, 6’08”
Let Yourself Go is a pop song and video inspired by Sinop, the happiest city in Turkey according to survey results. Judging by the responses given to most of the questions posed by the collective to the residents of Sinop, this statistic, despite being useful for tourism companies, does not reflect reality. Hayırlı Evlat, who describe happiness as “a soft resistance” within the political climate of Turkey, makes references to the fake happiness featured in advertising images in this video, which starts on a beach, and moves to the forest to a game table to a dinner with rakı, where the acting is exaggerated. The empty promises of repetitive political discourses blend in with the wind along with the chorus sung together by the performers, the accompanying choreography and the blues and greens of the background. Hayırlı Evlat transforms this form of popular culture, namely the music video to create more inclusive representations drawing attention to the dysfunctional or problematic areas of the system.