Hepsev’s exhibition entitled "a mountain in the finger, a mountain in the anus, a mountain riding an elephant" takes its name from the expression "a sun in the finger, a sun in the anus, a sun riding an elephant" in Etel Adnan's book "The Arab Apocalypse".
Up to now Seda Hepsev has been reinterpreting social institutions like family, school and military, and gender roles through power relations, often from an ironic point of view. These questionings were also an expression of how the artist’s individual observations and experiences were reflected in her mind. In this exhibition, on the other hand, Hepsev transforms social relationship motifs invading life in its entirety (individual relations, institutional relations, relations with nature) into works in which she uses a variety of materials, putting them through her individual filter and without pointing at one single concept.
Seda Hepsev's migration from Istanbul to Zurich also had an impact on her transition from generic works often focusing on a local concept into minor quotes about life as a whole.
"The impact of geographic conditions on life styles of people is a familiar issue. As I moved from a city with water passing through to a city with mountains passing through, I also began to realize the consequences of this new geographic interaction. Always coming face to face with a mountain’s silhouette, with a mountain part regardless of the point of view, the feeling of confinement despite being outdoors, is defined by some as a pleasant view but often creates a feeling of clostrophobia in me. In this society well knoen with its formalism, anything anomalous can hit one of these mountains and rebound. At this very point the mountain itself became the speaker, the ruler, the male, the dominant, the phallic." (Seda Hepsev)
In the exhibition we see two separate series of canvas paintings realized in different techniques and composed of mountain images. The works, all representing moments passed indoors with a variety of individuals, spread photographic moments into the time of the painting process, to settle the accounts. In the "Passive Challenge" series, on the other hand, we encounter motifs and patterns of mountains embroided on fabric. This time the challenge is not only against time, but also an obsessive one against the very image of the mountain.
The poster to be distributed to the viewers is also part of the exhibition. As we look to the patterns, embroideries and these posters as a whole, we perceive more clearly the artist's venture to consume the image of mountain indispensable for her life, or to define a new indoor space composed of outdoor views within the gallery.