21 Days
In Turkey, male citizens at the age of 18 become obligated to serve in the military and Turkey is one of the countries that does not offer the option to its citizens for a conscientious objection. On
August 3, 2018, the Turkish Government ratified a law that enabled Turkish male citizens to reduce the term of their regular military service by paying a certain amount of money if they apply within 3 months. The law enabled young Turkish men to complete their military service in 21 days instead of 6 or 12 months and pay an amount of money to the government through bank accounts.
According to the law, applicant citizens born on or before January 1, 1994 were required to complete their applications between August and November 2018. The candidates will complete their 21 days of military service within the period of time that the Ministry of National Defense designates. In 3 months, 633,844 male citizens applied.
The law being a beginning point for the whole experience, the artist aims to visually call attention to a transformation and a sense of temporal detachments: detachment from social life, detachment from identity, and detachment from self-appearance.