After Anahit revolves around two major events that took place in the Turkish province of Gümüşhane, in the Northeast of
                                          Turkey: The first is the annihilation of a glacier lake called Dipsiz Lake, and the second is the acquisition of a 1st-century BC
                                          bronze bust of the Armenian goddess Anahit by the British Museum. The destruction of the lake and the appropriation of
                                          the bronze bust serve as symbols of erasure, and the project follows their traces and remnants to emphasise their resilience.

I                                         In 2019, two treasure hunters from Turkey got official permission to dig the lake in order to retrieve the gold rumoured to
                                           belong 15th Apollinaris Legion. Earlier in the same year, archeologists unearthed the military base of the legion not far from
                                           the lake’s location. Dipsiz Lake already had a mysterious reputation, the discovery of this base supported the rumours of
                                           gold hidden at the bottom of the lake. Perpetrators obtained official permission for this excavation, and governmental
                                           officials were present during the event.

                                            Near the base, the infamous bronze bust of Aphrodite was found in the 19th century.  Alessandro Castellani, an Italian
                                            collector, smuggled the bust to Italy and sold it to the British Museum in 1873. Since then, the British Museum has
                                            exhibited the bust under the title of the Roman goddess Aphrodite, presumably because of the bust's Hellenistic
                                            characteristics. Armenians and some scholars believe that the bust represents the Armenian goddess Anahit, given the
                                            historical presence of Anahit in that specific region.

                                            Through photography, archival resources, installation art, narrative deconstruction, and reconstruction, After Anahit delves
                                            into the voids and gaps created by the appropriation of cultural artifacts, the erasure of cultural and ecological histories,
                                            and the impact on identity by both institutions and treasure hunters.

                                                 This project and exhibition is funded by the Mondriaan Fonds, The Van Bijleveltstichting, the Leeuwnsteinstichting, and
                                                 Kleurgamma Fine-Art Photolab and commissioned by the Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam.

                
                                                                                                                                     A region of eternal conflicts,
                       
                                                                                                                            Anahit is frozen in the wrong past
                         
                                                                                                                        In London, trapped in a glass monolith.

                       
                                                                                                                          While the Fathomless Lake is gone now,
         




                
                                                                                                         All that remains is an archive of its last blossoms

         
                                                                                                                                 Colourful lands, forever hostilities,


                                                                                                Where you can hear the echoes on walls of erased manuscripts

   
                                                                                                                                                This is where I stop.    
 


Ah Euphrates