I want to walk into history. With this project, I seek to create an invitation to dialogue, a search for language that can accompany the unspoken feelings carried by family stories affected by the forced exchange of population due to the treaty of Lausanne, while connecting them to today’s ongoing forced migrations. Inspired by my great aunt Despoina, a midwife before and after the exchange, I trace the lives of women healers across Greece and Turkey. The project begins as a personal ritual of healing and reflection, extending into an interdisciplinary exploration where family histories, field research, and encounters with communities converge to reveal the practices, knowledge, and the resilience of midwives as both healers, connectors and spoke people of their community.
This project is a journey into the histories and practices of women healers, tracing midwives across Cappadocia and Nea Ionia. It begins from my own family stories, interrupted by the forced population exchange, and extends into a broader exploration of collective knowledge, care, and memory. Through field research, encounters with communities, and archival investigations, I follow the traces of midwives’ practices, exploring how they connected people, shaped communities, and navigated social and environmental landscapes. The work unfolds as an ongoing dialogue between personal memory, historical narratives, and contemporary thought, revealing the threads that link past and present forms of care.
Public Events
Exhibition Or.artspace, Thursday 5 – 7 December 2024
Reading workshop
‘Poetry is not a luxury’ by Audre Lorde led by Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki, Eliana Otta and Elpida Rikou
Conference ‘Revisiting the Turkish – Greek exchange in its centennial’, Cappadokia Univeristy, 19 – 22 September 2024
‘Following the roots: a conversation on the present the past exchange’, Lecture Performance, Sanem Su Avci and Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki
Yellow Brick, Sunday 8 December 2024
‘I invite you home’, Performance 20′, Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki directed by Elianna Otta
Working Team
Initiator – Project Leader Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki (visual artist, researcher, educator)
Curated by Eliana Otta (visual artist, curator – PhD in artistic research from Vienna)
Research Consultant Elpida Rikou (PhD in Social Psychology, anthropologist, visual artist)
Adviser Bülent Özçelik (PhD in philosophy and professor of social and political studies at Cappadocia University), Sanem Su Avci (PhD candidate, Department of Political Science and Modern History at Panteion University)
Production and Cultural Manager Daphne Burt Koufopanou
Photography Adviser and coeditor Nuno Cassola (filmmaker and carpenter)
A project of Yellow Brick STEP 58 | Perátis (Περάτης): Exploring the exchanged practices of midwives between Cappadocia and Nea Ionia.
Supported and funded by the Greek Minister of Culture.
The ongoing research has been kindly supported by Gwaertler Stiftung, Necessity Fundenabling the fieldwork, workshops, and archival investigations that form the core of this project.