Servet Koçyiğit. When the Lion comes out of the Shade

From 17 January to 9 March 2019, Officine dell’Immagine in Milan hosts the second Italian solo show of Servet Koçyiğit (Kaman, 1971), one of the most interesting authors of the Turkish contemporary scene.
Clean yes Silvia Cirelli, the exhibition entitled When the Lion comes out of the Shade explores the recent artistic career of this multifaceted performer, collecting a selection of works, between photographs, installations and collages, never exhibited in Italy.
Always attentive to the comparison with socio-cultural issues, identity, behavioral and geopolitical issues that affect not only the Turkish reality - to which it is certainly linked - but that concern today's cultural history in general, Koçyiğit rediscovers contaminations in the art of topical issues, like the experience of emigration, the sense of uprooting, the balance between the individual and the community and the vulnerability of the human race. With a lexical refinement strictly connected to an authentic emotional essentiality, the artist translates the wounds of a society that seems to struggle to find its own balance, perhaps too weakened by a fragmented identity forced by coercive situations such as the abandonment of one's land due to wars, abuses, or the ghost of colonialism.
In this fragile emotional swing, the great historical sensitivity of Servet Koçyiğit becomes fundamental for understanding the value of the earth as a custodian and custodian of cultural memory.