"Gözda??"

They blinded those who took a chance.

But there are still millions of eyes that see. GEZ? is probably one of the most widely publicized protests in history… Each eye was like a recording device; each phone, a camera… Gezi was, in a way, the time that Turkey collectively started to see. And the number of people who lost their eyes was more than that during any other protest. It was almost as if they wanted to blind those who were able to see. Consequently, we wanted to tell their stories. We focused on those who were shot from their eyes. The last thing that those who lost their eyes saw was a plastic bullet or gas capsule approaching them.

That is, they witnessed the violence more closely and accurately than anyone else. And despite losing their eyes, they were better than most of us at seeing the things that were going on They did not give in to the threats. Ø We decided to place their strong and united stance on our poster, and attempted to explain the first 48 hours of Gezi, which was the period during which they lost their eyes. Because those 48 hours contained all the objection, rebellion, cooperation, violence, anger, brutality, and resistance that was present throughout the entirety of the Gezi protests. That park stands there today with an attitude of “I will do what I want”, and in denial of all the deaths, injuries, cruelties, and bans that took place. It tells cautionary stories to those considering another attempt each time it shakes its leaves.