https://www.bayburtpostasi.com.tr/kenan-yavuz-etnografya-muzesinde-bozkirdan-dunyaya-hafiza

Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum, the first Turkish Museum to win the world’s two most important awards in the field of cultural heritage by carrying the ancient culture of Anatolia to a universal scale with an institutional perspective, hosted the “Memory from the Steppe to the World” project.

Museum Board Member Furkan Yavuz said, “We are very happy to host the “Memory from the Steppe to the World” project prepared by valuable photographer and writer Melissa Mey and Pianist Composer Emre Nurbeyler, accompanied by violinist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahar Büyükgönenç. We should remind and refresh our social memory with factual actions and make it visible using contemporary tools. The “memory” project consisting of eight photographs and eight compositions made for each one suits our museum very well. Because Bayburt played an important role in the Turkification of Anatolian lands and was a part of the ancient homeland of the Akkoyunlu, Seljuk and Ottoman Civilizations. The “Swallow Ceiling” used in the architectural texture of Bayburt houses consists of 8 layers and symbolizes the principles of the Seljuk Civilization of “mercy, compassion, patience, truthfulness, keeping secrets, loyalty, generosity and gratitude”. The eight photographs in the project were chosen with inspiration from the swallow ceiling tradition that we keep alive. As a museum established in the Anatolian steppe, we continue to carry our cultural codes to the future,” he said.

Photographer Melissa Mey said, “Our project started when Emre Nurbeyler wanted to compose music on my photographs last year. The sadness I experienced when my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the same months allowed me to look at life from a different perspective. Forgetting experiences means “social dementia” as much as it is individual, and its results are irreparably devastating. Museums, the pillars of our social memory, are the most effective medicine against this threat. It is very valuable for me that our project takes place in this museum, which was established with the aim of carrying our beauties that should not be forgotten to the future and has become a worldwide phenomenon.”

Pianist and composer Emre Nurbeyler also said, “I reflected the spirit represented by Melissa Hocam’s multi-layered photographs in my compositions. Memories are our most valuable accumulations that make us exist. We cannot allow our values, which especially enrich our cultural heritage, to be forgotten. We must carry our values ​​as a legacy to the world of the future.”

Violinist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahar Büyükgönenç, who said, “The strongest bond of existence that extends to the roots is museums,” said, “I accompanied eight photographs and the composition made for each with my violin. I was proud to be in such a project in a museum that tries to keep the memory of our Anatolia alive in the middle of the steppe. Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum, which brings time together with space, preserves it, keeps it alive and connects it to its roots, is the life of our social memory.”