Reha Keskin received her Ph.D. in 2024 from the Department of Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy at Istanbul University. Her academic interests include late Ottoman and Republican-era modern theatre, Armenian theatre, the sociology of literature, gender studies, and contemporary art.
The project titled "between two things, a crevice could always emerge" draws both its inspiration and name from Leyla Erbil's book "Kalan," published by İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları in 2011.
“Kalan” is a narrative focusing on the socially violent events laden with losses from recent Turkish history and structured through a narrator named Lahzen who is afflicted by the mental disorder despite doctors all attempt to suppress her continuous remambrance with the help of medication.
This is accomplished by interweaving references, at times to myths and sacred texts, at times to historical writings, and at times with excerpts from poems, songs, and films, establishing intertextual connections within a multilayered structure.
Within the narration of what remains, "Kalan" prompts reflections on "witnessing" and the "responsibility of remembrance," opening the door to exploring the connection between these concepts and the "quest for truth". “between two things, a crevice could always emerge" also embarks on an inquiry into the realm of artworks, guided by these very concepts.
The narrator/author sets out on a quest for truth, armed with the knowledge that "truth" cannot be found, leaving behind questions that linger in one's mind regarding the artist, the artwork, and the form. Then more questions are added to these: How do artworks remember, how do they evoke remembrance, where does an artwork stand in the pursuit of truth, how do artworks establish connections between the past and the future, or lead to which resolutions and fractures?
In "Kalan," the moment when Lahzen recalls her friend Rosa, a moment marked by a "crack" sound, signifies a fracture. The sound that emerged when Rosa split her pen in half to share with Lahzen. This moment, this aporia, is a moment of sensory perception for Lahzen. It's the moment when she becomes aware of both her separation from Rosa, whom she couldn't see again after the Pogrom of 6-7 September, and their connection. Her constructed narrative lies precisely here. From this point onwards, the sound of this "crack" will echo in her ears with every remembered event. This fracture will lead to an unclosable "crevice" in the narrative. Between the lived moment and the remembered moment, between denial and acceptance, suppression and expression, loss and what remains, forgetting and the responsibility of remembering... "between two things, a crevice could always emerge."