At first glance, the artwork appears joyful—hundreds of smiling faces collaged together—but they belong to the victims of the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, which claimed over 53,000 lives. The montage was created by artist Emel Genc, who lost her city, Antakya, in the disaster. As she placed each face, she wept, knowing she was preserving memories of those who perished.
Antakya, formerly ancient Antioch, was among the worst-hit areas, with 90 percent of its buildings destroyed and over 20,000 lives lost in Hatay province. Genc incorporates objects recovered from the rubble—old photographs, trinkets, and fragments of concrete—into her work to express the profound emptiness of losing everything. Many of her pieces are displayed at Antakya’s Art and Culture Market, an open-air space showcasing over 70 local artists.
The market was created to restore the city’s cultural heartbeat. “You can rebuild homes and buildings, but that alone won’t bring a city back to life,” explains Hakan Boyaci, head of Hatay’s cultural association. With many artists displaced, the space offers a way to reconnect them with the community. On a quiet afternoon, a few visitors wander through, admiring the work and participating in workshops. Outside one stall, a young girl proudly holds up her paper marbling art, her family capturing the moment in photos.
Beyond visual arts, culinary traditions are also being revived. The Antakya Gastronomy Market, which opened in September, celebrates the city’s food culture, heavily influenced by nearby Aleppo. For 10 years, mosaic artist Eser Mansuroglu recreated historical artefacts, but after the earthquake, she turned to emotionally charged images, including the viral photograph of a father gripping his deceased daughter’s hand amid the rubble. Having lost her own mother and brother, she channeled her grief into mosaic work, describing it as therapeutic.
The initiative, supported by the Hatay governor’s office and the Eastern Mediterranean Development Agency, has provided a sense of renewal. Outside the complex, artists paint murals of Antakya’s rich history, documenting its past while avoiding one tragic moment. “We’re not going to paint the earthquake because we don’t want to remember it,” says graffiti artist Mehmet Ercin.
Through art, Antakya is reclaiming its identity, offering a way to grieve, heal, and rebuild.
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