Kolay gelsin, abla brings together ceramics, porcelain assemblages, drawings, photography and
text. Developed after a six month residency in Istanbul in 2025, the exhibition reflects on questions
of queer visibility, vulnerability, intimacy and belonging while examining how bodies, objects and
materials carry personal and social histories.
What initially began as a research project on ceramics and Ottoman decorative traditions gradually
shifted through encounters with Istanbul’s queer community. Conversations, shared spaces and
everyday experiences became the starting point for a body of work that moves between observation
and participation. Rather than documenting these encounters directly, the exhibition considers how
fragility, care and uncertainty become embedded in material and form.
Schittko’s practice moves fluidly between drawing, sculpture and photography. Fragmented figures,
masks and hybrid bodies appear throughout the exhibition, assembled from porcelain, stoneware,
found ceramic objects and industrial fragments. Decorative surfaces, cracks, glazes and visible
repairs become carriers of memory, contradiction and transformation. Oscillating between humor
and discomfort, attraction and unease, the works resist fixed narratives while inviting close looking.
Photography occupies an equally important role. Portraits and images are not presented as
documentary evidence but as spaces of encounter, emphasizing gestures, domestic interiors and
personal objects rather than spectacle. Together with the accompanying texts, they form a parallel
narrative that extends beyond the exhibition into the publication The Stories of Marmara, developed
alongside the residency.
The title, Kolay gelsin, abla, refers to a common Turkish expression meaning “May your work
come easily, sister.” Used in everyday life as a gesture of kindness and encouragement, the phrase
also resonates within queer communities, where forms of address can create moments of
recognition, solidarity and care.