Exhibition Team
Hilal Kesikci
Hilal Küntüz
Art Historian
Art Historian-Archaeologist
Ruveyda Ceylan
Art Historian
We also would like to add…
2019 CAMPAIGN
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R. Ceylan
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We wake up every morning around 3:30 am to prepare for fieldwork, although the exact time depends on the sunrise. After putting on our field clothes, we check one last time our backpacks, cameras, tripods, monopods, and scales, and load them in the car. After Nihan feeds the cats, we start our trip toward the pier.
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At 4 am at the pier, we meet the rest of the team who do not live at the school. As soon as all the team members arrive, we board the boat, and the engines start at 4:30. Having breakfast and drinking coffee on the boat, we arrive at BoÄŸsak Island at 4:45 or at Dana Island at 5:45. By then, the sun is out. We never fail to put on our sunscreens.
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Once we are on the island, the team members proceed to their work spots as groups which were determined the day before or on the boat. Nobody works alone on the island. One individual in each group records the live itinerary using a mapping application on the smartphone.
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When we are done with the day’s work and before the sun is up, we start our descent around 11-11.30 am. We call the restaurant in BoÄŸsak where we have lunch and dinner and tell the chef how many people will attend lunch that day and our arrival time. The boat picks up the groups in different locations along the coastline. We sometimes take a short swim and head back to BoÄŸsak. On the way back, we eat light snacks and often fall asleep in a corner.
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When we arrive at BoÄŸsak, we eat in a restaurant near the pier. Depending on the workload that day, we determine when we will start the office work. Those who stay in the school go back to the school, others back to the motel where they stay.
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After a shower, we drink coffee or chat in the school yard to rest until about 16: 30 when office work starts. Each team member checks the work they did on the island and works on the drawings or models.
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At 19:00, we go to the restaurant for dinner, during which we go over the fieldwork tasks for the following day. After dinner, we return to our lodging and start preparing for fieldwork. We pack our bags, charge the batteries of the cameras and measuring instruments, and check the scales, photogrammetry targets, tripods, and monopods. After these are over, we often fall asleep at 21:00, exhausted after a long day of work.
CHIKO OF BOÄžSAK
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​H. Küntüz
Chiko was living in BoÄŸsak Village. She loved napping under the olive trees and strolling through archaeological remains.
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She was cheerfully chasing grasshoppers when she heard someone asking her, “Are you really a cat?” It was a seagull.
Another one added, “Those ears are too big for a cat. Are you sure you are not a rabbit?”
The third one just snickered. “She is tiny! I am sure she is only a bunny” they laughed and laughed at her, then flew away. Chiko was surprised. She could not even say anything.
“What is wrong with my looks?” she asked herself. She had never thought about her appearance before. Looked at her reflection with her big doubtful eyes. Her ears were indeed big.
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​She continued walking, was not so cheerful anymore, and found her old friend Alim in his usual trash bin.
“Hey, Alim! Do you think I am a cat?”
Alim looked baffled. “What are you then?” he asked.
“I don’t know. A rabbit maybe or a bunny?” Alim laughed meowdly first. “Oh, you are not joking,” then turned his back, showing his tiny tail, “I did not lose this tail in an accident. I was born without one. Do you think I am not a cat?” he asked.
Chiko was surprised, but her excuse was ready, “Of course, you are a cat. You are the best mouse hunter ever! I can’t even hunt!”
Alim knew this feeling, and Chiko needed help to feel better again.
“Come on, Chiko. Let’s visit some of my friends.”
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Alim and Chiko passed two streets and one alley. They saw a thick gray tail showing under a pile of cardboard. “You are not good at hiding Stack, as always,” said Alim. The thick tail wiggled in and disappeared. Soon, a chubby face appeared. Chiko could not take her eyes off this chubby cat’s ears. Were they really ears?
“Do you need anything, Alim?” asked Stack.
“Well, we were walking around and saw you. How are you?” said Alim, and two of them talked about the heated weather and how hard it had become to find drinking water. Stack also mentioned his longing for tuna. Chiko's ears perked and she said "I love tuna, too. I will bring half of my dinner when I get some". Stack was exhilarated with the idea.
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​Alim and Chiko said goodbye, and Stack disappeared under the cardboard pile, no tail left open this time.
Alim asked, “You doubt yourself just because you have big ears. He is not even sad about not having them.”
Chiko was not convinced. “If he can live in the streets, he must be very good at surviving. That makes him a wonderful cat. I can’t even last a day.”
Alim shook his head. “Let’s continue then.”
Alim and Chiko crossed three fields and hurried to one garden without getting caught by a dog. They saw something sleeping on the nearby balcony, resembling a cotton ball. While Chiko was trying to understand what that was, Alim answered her silent question. “That one is a cat, too, you know.”
“Wow,” Chiko was amazed. “Bathing must be exhausting!” Then the cotton ball rolled over and turned its fluffy belly to the sun. "I love sunbathing, too", said Chiko, but she immediately looked at her belly and said: "I am not even fluffy."
Alim shook his head. “This did not work too. Let’s continue.”
Alim and Chiko passed the camping and two bungalows. They arrived at a small house with a wide garden. Alim jumped on the garden wall and Chiko did the same. Then they waited.
“Who are we looking for?” asked Chiko.
“Them,” Alim pointed with his nose.
Then greeted them, “Hello, ladies.”
From the cat door, one creature appeared then one more. The first cat, as short as a threshold, came closer to the wall Alim and Chiko were sitting on. The second cat, if she was a cat, was more peculiar though. She almost looked like a baby human with all the clothes on her.
“Chiko, meet Shortie and Wiggy.” Alim introduced them. It was not hard to guess who was who.
They talked about how they missed the cool breezes and the convenience of hunting frogs around the water trenches nearby. Shortie also mentioned that one time she fell in the trench and detested it. Chiko jumped in and said, "I also don't like getting in the water!"
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Alim ve Chiko said goodbye and continued their walk.
Alim said while going back, “You are as much of a cat as the rest of us all are. I will teach you to be a good hunter if you wish.”
Chiko thanked Alim. It became a cheerful day once again. “Then I will tell you the stories I heard with these ears.” They laughed and laughed together, and walked towards their street.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
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H. Kesikci
The exhibition was initially planned as a physical one. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our plans. We decided to implement all our ideas in the digital environment. Although this was quite unfortunate, a digital exhibition means reaching a wider audience.
Soon after we started searching for a platform for a digital exhibition. We have found several platforms that required coding or not. Using a system that allowed us to visualize our ideas without the need to learn coding in a short time made more sense. In the end, we decided to use a website editor that was considered “no-code.”
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You have visited an exhibition that was created using a website editor. The main difference between this platform and others is its better visuality using mobile devices. Because our main aim was to reach an audience that does not have access to complex devices. We want the local public, visitors, and those who cannot physically get to the sites to acquire correct information about scientific research.