Glass tubes, polyester, organic and inorganic materials, drawing, plastic pipe, stained glass, lead, aluminum foil tape, and UV light, 2026.

Photos: Gülüm İmrat @ Istanbul Universtiy Zoology Museum (“Eye Ear Claw” Exhibition)

x, y, z Species and the Mermaid imagines synthetic fossil species that may exist in the future. Composed of organic and inorganic elements such as seashells, ceramic, polyester, crab legs, and fish tails, these hybrid beings emerge from a relationship between the synthetic world and the fragments of specimens I encountered at the Zoology Museum, pieces that remained aside, scientifically unnamed or unlabeled.

The drawings, inspired by sea creatures and worms within the museum, are surrounded by phosphorescent surfaces that aim to make these beings more visible. The work carries unclassifiable life forms into a speculative future, while reflecting on extinction, transformation, and possible forms of non-human life.

Placed in different areas of the museum, the works are intended to appear unexpectedly before the viewer, making visible the boundary between the real and the fictional. This encounter leaves the viewer, for a brief moment, alone with the nature of what they are seeing.

Photos: Gülüm İmrat