Symmetry in Nature: Motifs of the Butterfly

Selected from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Photography Collection, we present the landscapes and places in Istanbul photographs, dating from the 1850s to the 1980s, together with their present-day views!

You try to remember the future. A bird painted on the ceramic panel in a historical palace has found its place on the wall. The tiles of a church and a mosque have been painted on canvas. The pattern of a centuries-old ceramic plate appears before you on a velvet curtain.

As artisanship became a part of artistic practices with the blurring of art and craft, the use of traditional motifs has also flourished. In this context, how are these motifs currently structured or designed beyond their traditional connotations?