Exhibition - Can Yagiz: Not Today Either at Ely Center of Contemporary Art

“Similar to the first cold day of the year, when you grab a coat you haven't worn in a while and put your hands in the pockets, and find a piece of a receipt, a used tissue, a caramel wrapper, and a band-aid, also used. And not recognize who these fragments belong to.

I thought self as something innate, an enduring thread for the most part. Though it is more fragile, self can fragment, dissipate. It is difficult when memory becomes contested or one cannot reason with their doing.

At loose ends, such fragments became tangible comforts. Material had memory, in how a tissue soaked and how an envelope scuffed. It rendered progression.

I have been working these materials into collages. The degradation of these elements is integral to how I contemplate themes of belonging, selfhood, and decay. In addition, I approach this degradation through printing monotypes in succession without cleaning the plate, so the image degrades with each subsequent print.” - Can Yagiz

Can Yagiz was born in Istanbul, Turkiye, and currently lives and works in New Haven. Can received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art, and Master of Fine Arts from Yale School of Art.