Art
Suat Öğüt
Anatomy of Belonging - Day
Anatomy of Belonging originated from a news report about a farmer in Gaza whose olive trees could not grow because their roots could not find a foothold on an ancient Byzantine mosaic beneath the soil. In the aftermath of the devastation in Gaza, the mosaic has become a metaphor for the fragile entanglement of land, memory, and erasure.
The project relates to the cultivated landscape in the Netherlands by shifting focus from what is visible above ground to the hidden systems underneath. Root structures and fungal networks become metaphors for a diasporic existence: life forms that adapt, forge connections, and survive, while always remaining database-shaped by their origins. Here, the olive tree is a displaced presence attempting to take root in unfamiliar soil.
About Suat Öğüt:
Suat Öğüt (b. 1986, Diyarbakır, Turkey) is an artist and filmmaker based in Amsterdam and Istanbul. In his interdisciplinary practice, he explores how recent history shapes the present through personal and collective narratives. He works with installations, sculpture, video, and participatory projects, in which he uses monuments, archives, and everyday structures to challenge dominant historical narratives. Through this, he reinterprets heritage as a living, culturally anchored process. Öğüt studied at Marmara University in Istanbul in 2007 and completed a postgraduate program at HISK in Ghent in 2013.
Anatomy of Belonging was created in collaboration with Syrian mosaic artist Abdurrahman Hamid, who uses traditional techniques and natural stone to incorporate layered histories into the form.
The art program was made possible with a contribution from the Mondriaan Fund, Creative Industries Fund NL, and De Versterking.
