To Keep

“To Keep” begins with two objects that belonged to Batur’s late grandmother: a silver mirror and a hairbrush that she has kept since childhood. Batur sits in front of the mirror and slowly brushes her hair, beginning the performance with a familiar act of grooming and care.

The work takes its structure from the Turkish expression “saçımı süpürge ettim”, literally translated as “I made a broom of my hair.” The phrase describes exhausting or sacrificing oneself through caring and working for others. During the performance, Batur makes the expression physical. She lowers her body towards the floor and uses her own hair to sweep the surface beneath her.

Hair moves from something being cared for to something used for labour. The body follows this change, moving from the upright position of brushing to the physical effort of sweeping with the head and hair close to the ground. An expression usually spoken as a metaphor is carried out through the body.

The objects also hold a personal history. Batur’s grandmother had wanted to become an artist, a life she was unable to pursue within the circumstances of marriage and the expectations placed upon her. She later told Batur that, in some way, she was living that possibility through her.

After sweeping, Batur returns to the mirror and begins brushing her hair again. The performance ends where it began, returning care to the same hair that has just been used as a tool for labour. “To Keep” holds this repetition alongside what is carried between generations: an object, a gesture, an expression, and a life imagined through another.