Through the Munzur mountains—a Himalayan-like region in eastern Turkey— the ibex steps: the Bezoar ibex. The Bezoar ibex is a goat with fairytale-like qualities. The males bear enormous horns, curving in an arc from head to back. These horns are truly massive, spanning almost the entire length of the goat. These are a marvel, a sculpture suspended above the animal.
The Bezoar ibex, wearing this headpiece, scales the steepest, almost vertical mountain slopes. These slopes stretch to great heights, where any fall would be fatal. What’s even more remarkable is that, as it climbs and balances, the ibex grows stones in the caverns of its stomach—stones that can cure a human if poisoned with arsenic.
Through the Munzur region, home to the ibex with its cliffs, horns, and inner stones, a river flows. Along this river, this too carries the name Munzur, you might find Huseyin Umaysiz this month and next. This because Huseyin and the river are writing a text together. With film director Özkan Küçük and a visual artist, Huseyin walks for three days along the Munzur to think together about the form their joint performance will take—a performance they are creating for the people in the river’s basin. Huseyin’s working period in the Munzur region runs from 24 August to 13 September.