Biber Dağı / Pepper Mountain, 2021
Oya (needle lace) on fabric from curtain, black dye. 29x23 inches, framed

Pepper Mountain is part of a series of works made using oya, a traditional lace technique from Anatolia (Turkey) that involves intricate knotting. Oya is often used to decorate the edges of scarves, usually worn by women. The motifs in oya carry symbolic meanings, often expressing emotions or messages that exist in the space between what can and can’t be said, and between the personal and the collective.

For instance, red hot pepper motifs in oya are said to signify unrest in a woman's marriage, symbolizing anger that cannot—or is socially prohibited from being—expressed in words. Pepper Mountain was created during a time when Turkey’s participation in the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence) was abruptly annulled overnight. While watching the news unfold, I turned to the oya technique of dağ (mountain), traditionally used to produce small triangular shapes that are then adorned with motifs along the scarf’s edges. Here, however, the pattern expands into a towering mountain, with hot peppers laced throughout.

Related works: Red Garden, Flower and Pepper, Pepper Garden