Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Rıza Topal, TR
Maulbeeresserin (Mulberry Eater), 1977. Oil on canvas 140 × 100 cm.
Rıza Topal was a Kurdish painter and poet whose work was created between the cultural spaces of Kurdistan, Turkey and Germany. After his first artistic work during his teacher training, he later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In his paintings, he combined influences of European modernism with motifs from Kurdish folk culture and developed his own, archaic-looking visual language. His works often depict scenes of peasant life, community and human dignity. Migration, memory and cultural identity became central themes of his work. Several works by Rıza Topal are now in museum collections.