After hearing the loss of his beloved grandma Sıdıka Çolak (92) in 2018, artist and researcher Erdem Çolak returns to her abandoned country house where he spent his childhood and saved unforgettable memories. Sıdıka, an illiterate Arabic woman who spent almost all of her life in a village of Samandağ (south of Turkey), was the driving force behind all of her children, grandchildren and relatives to seek for better education and life conditions which made her Sitt Al-Koull (grandma of all). In order to pay homage to her, the artist decides to make an artistic intervention on the house and turns it into lieu de mémoire.
Sitt Al-Koull (Grandma of All), Single-Channel Video, 7’,51’’, mp4, 2020.
Credits:
Director: Erdem Colak
Cast: Erdem Colak
Camera: Tolga Eskiocak – Mihrap Eskiocak – Erdinç Habip
Editing: Serdar Narin
Music: Chris Zabriskie, “I am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor”