Cansu Çakar New Rarities, 2024 (installation detail). Courtesy of the artist.
Journey from the Mediterranean to Cornwall through this miniaturist-inspired painting
Based in İzmir, Turkey, Cansu Çakar developed this new work during two residencies in St Ives in 2024. She became interested in representations of seashells, imagining them as both homes and graves. This led to an exploration of the shifting cultural value of natural resources – including Tyrian purple and Cornish tin – and the exploitation of landscapes and people through their extraction.
Laboriously derived from murex sea snails, Tyrian purple was named for its origins in Tyre, a centre of the ancient civilisation of Phoenicia that spread from modern-day Lebanon to trade and settle across the Mediterranean. This rare dye has been used to colour many precious artefacts through time. In parallel, tin from Cornwall and Devon was also a valuable resource across the ancient world. It has even been suggested that the Phoenicians came to Cornwall in search of it, though there is no archaeological evidence for this.
Çakar’s installation re-examines concepts of value, rarity and cultural heritage by speculatively tracing such ancient trade routes, real or imagined. Unfolding across a shell-like spiral of paper resembling an ancient map, it offers a story guided more by oral traditions than historical records.
An illustrated glossary by Çakar is available to purchase in the Shop.
New Rarities is commissioned by Tate St Ives, curated by Anne Barlow, Director, Tate St Ives. Supported by SAHA.