Queer Ekoloji Bağlamında; İnsan, Doğa ve Çağdaş Sanat

Abstract

The main issue of this study is to explore the reflections on the dualistic structure between nature and human that have been going on for centuries in fields such as art history, ecology, sociology and philosophy, as well as the relationship between these reflections and art. In particular, by examining selected examples from art history and contemporary artworks produced within the framework of this study, the layers of this relationship will be revealed.

Tracing the dualities such as nature/woman, human/nature, and human/others, etc., that date back to times even earlier than Ancient Greece, this study draws a broad picture of this relationship through works of art. At the same time, the study examines the relationship between the mentioned dualities and the issues such as environmental destruction, pollution, exploitation, and domination that are among the most significant debates/problems of our time from the perspective of queer theory. The separatist structure of the male-dominated system, which lurks in the shadows behind the visible and is the focus of feminist, post-feminist, and LGBTI+ movements, is further discussed in the context of queer theory. The queer perspective, coming together with the field of ecology, reveals the roots of the aforementioned dualistic structure more visibly and detectably.

From the "primitive ages" to Ancient Greece, from the darkness of the Middle Ages to the enlightenment of the 21st century, the divisive, exploitative, and oppressive mindset that emerged from the gender and nature duality, which has transformed itself from one form to another, can be read in the first works of art left as a legacy by humanity up to the present day. This study brings together concepts taken from the tool kits of fields such as ecology, philosophy, sociology, art history, feminism, LGBTI+ movements, and queer theory, and unites the gender-based debates that are fundamentally common among these fields. Additionally, it provides a general analysis of issues such as dualistic structures, domination, oppression, suppression, and exclusion through the artists and their works that are/are not mentioned in the history of art. On the other hand, through the queer ecology approach, which brings together queer theory with the field of ecology, this study critically examines the picture that emerges from issues such as nature, gender, domination, and system, while tracing the roots of it.

In line with these thoughts and discussions, the selected artworks have been examined in the context of queer ecology and gender/nature dichotomy was historically traced through the meaning layers of the works and the artists' own discourses or lives. The study brings together different discourses presented by contemporary art works against dualistic approaches such as nature/woman, nature/human, human/other, nature/LGBTI+. The personal art works presented in the final section of this study reveal the layers of ongoing discussions, sometimes pointing, sometimes hinting, and sometimes creating new discourses. They move along the boundaries between ecology, social gender, power, individual, and society, challenging and pushing these boundaries with a queer perspective.