Sound of a Setting Sun is Fatma Bucak's first exhibition in Oceania. Several works made since 2014 have been brought together alongside a powerful new video and new photographic installation to consider complex causes and consequences of loss, which is a recurring theme in Bucak’s practice. Spanning sound, video, sculpture, and print media, the works in this exhibition archive and interrogate a range of historical events that have been detrimental to life on Earth—from the Syrian civil war and European wildfires to the suppression of Kurdish identity and language, and birdlife endangerment caused by habitat destruction. These poetic, incisive records reveal interconnected, traumatic stories of people, animals, places, and plants, giving voice and image to that which is failing or lost. Embodied by Bucak’s use of materials and processes, these stories of loss are also galvanising reminders of survival and resistance—the first bloom of a successfully cultivated Damascus rose from war-torn Syria; the careful casting in precious metal of endangered bird species from Iraq; ink remnants from the pages of burned books reconstituted for typography. Within Bucak’s materialisations of grief we find vital traces of endurance and hope.

Integral to Bucak’s practice is her work across various geographical contexts which share social, political, or ecological unrest, such as America, Egypt, Mexico, Syria, and Turkey. Collaborating with people from these places, her practice foregrounds the often-silenced conditions and implications for those living in the aftermath of atrocity, reclaiming history through testimony and feeling. Derived from multisensory experiences of these conditions, works in Sound of a Setting Sun register the sounds, scents, tactility, and sights of specific contexts, as well as their palpable absence. Layered throughout the exhibition are real or implied sensory experiences, from the sounds of fear, language, and birdsong to the scents of roses, burnt trees, paper, and rubber; the touch of barren soil and physical affliction to the sights of inferno and desolation. Confronting the fragile nature of our shared landscapes, whether natural, social, or political, the haunting recollections at play in Bucak’s work signal irreparable damage, calling us to reckon with it while reflecting on our own humanity in the face of such significant loss.

Bucak was born in Turkey in 1984 and lives and works between Istanbul and London. She studied Philosophy at Istanbul University and History of Art and Etching at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts before completing her Master of Art in Photography at the Royal College of Art. Since 2008, Bucak has worked across photography, performance, sound, video, and installation to address the consequences of geopolitical tension and climate change on people and culture, as well the impacts of human activity on animals and plants.

This exhibition was made possible with the generous support of SAHA, the Chartwell Trust, Jenny Todd, and Stephanie and Sjoerd Post.