Location: Skegness UK / Turkey & Georgia Date: 2010
SEAS X . . .
Black/North SEAS was an arts adventure that revealed in story, song and image a vision of Europe drawn from the experiences of the communities that live on its shoreline. 10 different countries from the Black and North Sea regions of Europe took part, with Skegness being chosen as the only UK host.
The project launched in Odessa, Ukraine in May 2008 and concluded in Skegness. The SEAS Project brought together artists, politicians and community groups to focus on the challenges faced by people living in the region's coastal towns and cities.
SEAS Project in Skegness
SEAS was initiated by Swedish arts organisation Intercult. Arts Council England have supported East Lindsey District Council to participate in this project.
As well as the international artists attending the festival, there were a wide range of local artists including John Byford who took part, showcasing his work at the Embassy Theatre with his 'daily dose' exhibition.
Black/North SEAS - Suitcases / Skegness, England
SEAS X - Photo and documentation: Turkey / Georgia
John Byford (photographer, UK) turns his lens towards people and their experiences. He joined SEAS in Turkey and Georgia. A collaboration with Arts Council England/East Midlands.
And we’re off!
Gridlock. Istanbul, Turkey
First Stop: Istanbul
Artists and tech staff have been dropping in to Istanbul from all over Europe yesterday and a few of them today. Believe it or not everyone arrived on time and are on board. But Istanbul seems to have its own tempo on a Wednesday late afternoon. First the group had to wait an hour for a delivery from the airport (boxes of technical equipment) that were stuck in traffic, then there was more waiting for our SEAS Xpedition coordinator Selen and the mini bus who were stuck in traffic. Right now a bus with 31 people and a following mini bus with 2 people and lots of equipment are in the outer edges of Istanbul and, guess what, they are stuck in traffic!
The atmosphere on board is one of quiet expectation. Small meetings are taking place, and Selen is apparently creating a Facebook event in Turkish. The bus is well connected.
SEAS X - Istanbul, Turkey
Akçakoça. Closest to Istanbul, this village seems to move at a slower tempo, which makes the highly modern mosque in the village centre an unexpected glimpse into the future. We managed the first day — our first station, Akçakoca — with curiosity and wonder.
We started early by flagging, bannering and roping off our territory in the meydan (town square), which we made our own. Cristina set up her printer and computer in the teahouse. The first little girl she met became her close companion and took 388 photos in less than an hour. She saw her town through a lens for the first time and was instantly hooked. Cristina went on to produce fantastical images of the children’s self-portraits — as football players, champions, superheroes and crimefighters. The children proudly carried these photos home.
Nedyalko claimed a table with his collection of postcards, medals and photographs from the Bulgarian communist era. As he created small “memory boxes”, he found himself surrounded by groups of men who shared stories, showed family photos and admired his craftsmanship.
The Fantomats had their usual effect on the local people, attracting attention all day long. In fact, a new way of greeting emerged among local men and boys: walk up to a friend, press your finger to the top of his head, and look deep into his eyes. Just like the little films playing in the eyes of the Fantomats, people began searching for stories in each other.
Later in the day, both BADco (Zagreb) and Vilna Scena (Kiev) animated the square with performance actions — radically different artistic gifts, but warmly and generously received by the townspeople.
As the sun set, the fishing boats headed out of the harbour and the call to prayer drifted through the air. The small amphitheatre slowly filled with men, children and — for the first time all day — women. They had come to watch WAITING by Tiyatro Oyunevi. The vice mayor welcomed us, thanked us for coming, and the show began: a quiet, concentrated work about being strangers in a strange land. At the end came a long applause and a standing ovation. As we packed up, some kids shouted, “We love you!”
For me, that said everything about how warmly we’ve been treated and how well the performances have been received here in Akçakoca.
Location: Akçakoça, Turkey
Ünye. Our second station, Ünye, went beyond our expectations and ended with wild dancing in the central square alongside the young people and children of this lively town. The largest place we visited on the trip, this thriving coastal community is working hard to integrate the sea and beach into its plans for cultural tourism.
We arrived late on Friday evening only to discover that some of our pre-booked hotel rooms had already been given away, leaving a few of us in small, windowless rooms. Everyone took it in stride, and we went straight to dinner — once again by the sea.
Selen, our SEAS X Turkey coordinator, had invited a friend to give a presentation on the history of Ünye. He spoke about the personal tragedies that took place nearly ninety years ago, when the deportation of the Armenian and Greek populations led to the near total ethnic cleansing of the town. Once a rich and diverse region, today only a few families of Armenian descent remain, and no Greeks at all. Our guest lecturer’s grandmother had been left behind by her family at the age of five, with the promise that they would soon return for her. They never came back. She grew up, married, and lived out her life in Ünye.
SEAS X - Ünye, Turkey
Ayder. We arrived on Sunday evening in the little village of Ayder, high up in the mountains that roll down to the Black Sea. A tiny paradise, dominated by the Laz and Hemşin minorities, it becomes a tourist village for part of the year: trekking, skiing, rafting.
Many of the SEAS artists went straight to the thermal bath, where the water temperature is 45°. Others went for walks. Surrounded by forests and waterfalls, we gathered after dinner to share our artistic work. Presentations by the three UK artists (Verity-Jane Keefe, Priya Mistry, and Rita Marcalo), by Scottish artist Chris Biddlecombe, and Swedish choreographer Kajsa Sandström brought us closer together.
We were also joined by Şükran Üst, director of the women’s arts festival FEMIN&ART, held each year in Trabzon. She spoke about the struggle to empower women artists — a mission strengthened by building international connections.
Ayder - Turkey.
Çamlihemsin. We woke to a beautiful morning and took our bus down the mountain from Ayder to the village of Çamlıhemşin, a small community in the hills that maintains the roots of the Hemşin people and has a greatly expanded summer population of Turks with country homes in the mountains. We set up in the small town square by the river. It was a short stop — three hours — but filled with many wonderful encounters.
The FANTOMATS were popular, one of them positioned in front of the bakery. The baker and owner adopted “his” Fantomat, placed a stool in front of it so the children could see into the eyes of the android sculpture, and spent the entire morning explaining to everyone who came to buy bread how the machine worked.
It was a different kind of stop from the others. We spent the morning simply as visitors and strangers, yet we felt oddly connected to the village by the time we finished lunch and headed for Hopa.
SEAS X - Çamlihemsin, Turkey
Hopa. This border town is a regular stop for many trucks moving between Turkey and Georgia, the Caucasus and further on to Iran — and it is our final stop in Turkey. Our hosts were the cultural-ecological organisation Birjasam, a gathering of experienced young activists in a troubled community. Hopa, as a border town, is divided between those who control the customs business — import, export, transport — and the citizens trying to design a town fit for their children and their future.
We were asked to pay a bribe to the local authorities through the vice mayor, and of course we refused. With the support of the regional government and our committed friends from Birjasam, we still managed to create an amazing day together with the townsfolk — probably the best event so far.
SEAS X - Hopa, Turkey
Batumi. We are in Batumi, a Georgian city only a few kilometres from the Turkish border, yet so different from the variety of communities we have visited over the past eight days along the Turkish Black Sea coast.
It has been a fascinating and challenging set of experiences. At the same time, we have been taking on board the work of the other artists travelling with us, as well as observing the responses and interactions of the people and towns we’ve encountered — and, of course, the dynamic between the two of us.
We have begun to develop a collaborative methodology that brings together my more playful, action-based experiments with Chris’s more research-led construction processes. It has been valuable to genuinely share our two approaches within the framework of the journey, opening ourselves up to unexpected occurrences and to meeting other artists and audiences along the way.
This journey will stay with us and act as a springboard, shaping the questions, ideas, and purpose of our future project.
Words: Chris Torch. Photos: John Byford
Text and images ©John Byford ~ All rights reserved