Buket 

Editor: So, this piece is titled "Buket" by Mustafa Duzgunman. It seems to be a watercolor painting of a flower arrangement. The background has a marbled look. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The marbled effect you pointed out is key. This relates directly to Ebru, or Turkish paper marbling. Considering Duzgunman's background, it is worth exploring Ebru’s history. Originally, it was highly artisanal craft and guarded knowledge; now it's deployed to create works of fine art, such as painting or book covers, moving into the sphere of high art. So, in this context, is this a radical embrace or co-opting of traditional craft? Editor: That’s interesting. I hadn’t considered the background as significant on its own, but that makes sense. The flowers themselves appear quite simplified. Is there any commentary about the natural world here? Curator: I agree. And let’s consider the social aspects. Is this about the commercialization and perhaps simplification or loss of the deep, often painstaking process associated with traditional Ebru? We might think about the material used; watercolor. Easy to produce on a massive scale, sold cheaply... This connects to modern manufacturing and its relation to nature itself; consider the labor that mass-producing these pigments involves. Editor: That connects craft and material. So you're saying that the medium—watercolor—used with the traditional marbling, transforms what the image means. Is it that tension between the handcrafted and mass produced that really drives your analysis of it? Curator: Exactly. The tension reveals layers of cultural exchange and economic shifts, it provides us insight of our consumption habits, while considering artistic creation. What do you take away from all this? Editor: I guess I didn’t really appreciate how much the *way* something is made changes *what* it means. I'll think about that tension going forward.