Life is a Riot: Gezi Park (2013)

Life is a Riot: Gezi Park is my response to the riots that took place in Turkey in 2013.

Initially protests took place in Gezi Park sparked by concerns about the potential bulldozing of one of the only green spaces in Istanbul, but they grew to encompass many causes including opposition to the increasingly authoritarian administration under Erdogan. Riot police were heavy handed in their treatment of the protesters with the use of tear gas and water cannon.

 In the media coverage of the riots, I saw images of female riot police. I found this ironic, as under an Islamic state such roles for women had the potential to be curtailed. So, the figure in my work is delighting in her role as a riot policewoman, surrounded by the masses of protesters she was sent to disperse. People are crowding around the base of the figure and in the tree, referencing photos I saw online of the crowds in Gezi Park climbing trees.