ABOUT
Gizem Güvendag
Born in Ankara 1989
Lives and works in Cologne
Instagram: bak_bi
“Ask” 00:52 min
My grandmother spent the last twenty years of her life living with us. Throughout her life, she looked after her children, her siblings, my sister, and me. She lived wherever she was needed to care for her loved ones.
Every day, my grandmother would watch hours of telenovelas: Marimar, Rosalinda… and I would sit and watch with her. As she watched, she crocheted. She did this knowing there would never be an exhibition, a social media audience, or anyone to recognize how precious her talent truly was.
“Babaanne, dedeme aşık mıydın?” She answered: He didn't beat me, and he didn't gamble. She had been a child bride, married to a man nearly thirty years her senior. I couldn't grasp the reality of her story back then because I was just a child myself.
For my grandmother, crochet was an anchor. Piece by piece, through years of handwork, endless hours of telenovelas, and decades of selfless caregiving, she never took up space. In fact, she never wanted to. Everything she owned in the world could fit inside a single suitcase.
She took care of us; we took care of each other in shared homes. No one questioned that.
I created this animation frame by frame, wanting to honor her crochet, her handwork, and the fact that she was never granted autonomy over her own marriage.
Gizem Güvendag (*1989, Ankara) is a visual artist and animator living in Cologne. After studying animation in Turkey, she relocated to Germany a few years ago. Her versatile work spans from VR Quill and 2D animations to painting, murals, and music videos. She views animation as an experimental playground to explore the interconnectedness of nature and human stories.