Nancy Atakan

The Language of Tea

Tea is a gesture before it is a drink. The small curve of a hand offering a cup, the quiet pause before the first sip — these are the beginnings of dialogue, older than speech. Across tables, thresholds, and generations, tea translates what words often fail to hold.

Two words for one tea —
çay and tea, soft on the tongue.
Between them, silence,
where language both opens doors
and quietly closes them.

In Turkish, the word is çay. In English, it is tea. Listening only to the sound of these two words, it seems the world could be divided into two groups: those who say something like tea and those who say something like çay. A single sound crossing borders, reshaping itself through tongues and alphabets — an echo carried through trade routes, migrations, and centuries of human exchange.

The visual image of these sounds depends on the linguistic system that contains them. Language opens paths for communication, yet it can also close them; it creates belonging, even as it defines difference. Through tea and çay, we glimpse how a single concept can unite and divide, how meaning flows and shifts like liquid in a cup.

Steam curls through the air,
hands offer warmth to strangers.
One sip — the world slows.
We share what cannot be said,
in the small sound of çay, tea.

Wherever it is poured, tea carries the warmth of invitation — an unspoken promise that for a moment, we will sit, we will listen, we will belong. The leaves unfold like small maps of shared time. They remember the hands that picked them, the soil that held them, the boiling water that awakened them.

Something as seemingly simple and unnoticed as tea — consumed almost everywhere in the world — becomes a symbol of unity and relationship. It connects friends in conversation, families in routine, strangers in ceremony. Yet within that unity lies a multitude of specific cultural incarnations: the glass in Istanbul, the porcelain cup in Kyoto, the clay pot in Nairobi, the silver tray in London.

In every culture
tea becomes a simple sign —
of care, of welcome.
Different cups, same slow rhythm,
same comfort of being seen.

Tea is a cultural signifier. It shows cultural meaning. It reminds us that connection is both universal and particular, that words can both join and separate, and that even the smallest rituals carry the history of how we learn to meet one another — across languages, across sounds, across cups of tea and çay.

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It Still is As It Always Was
Nancy Atakan and Kalliopi Lemos
2020

KL: My love, my little one, we are all destined to follow the sacred river of life, to be carried by it round its many turns and rapids, along its calm stretches and its sudden drops towards the same destination.

NA: Standing strong
Following your own path,
Being confident
you are perfect as you are.

KL: Accumulating wisdom, and knowledge.We do become divine, my little one, all adorned and be-jeweled, as we are graced to carry new life within us! We are amazed to see it flourish, like you now, my tender little fledgling!

NA: Blessed with the miracle of birth, as we chose, if we chose,
Listening to our intuition,
Sensing our inner wisdom,
Recognizing our instinct to give, share, to collaborate.
Female jewels and adornment.

 
KL: Holding within the experience of passing along the banks of this sacred river. The sites we rested our eyes upon, the colorful sunrises we breathed in, and the comforting sunsets we waved goodnight to hoping eagerly for the next day to come.

NA: All living entities must share
the warmth of the sun,
the air we all breath
in the chorus of life.

KL: The joys that exploded in our hearts,
and the sadness that wounded us, the richness, oh! the richness of living!
The loves and the desires that motivated our steps forward, the dreams that accompanied us like birds flying close to our hearts, all this and more are the gifts that were bestowed upon us.

NA: No need to be what others want or expect,
You know what is best for you.

KL: The diamonds, the rubies, and the gold of all the precious moments that I lived, oh my little one, they all should grace you now. You are the one to carry them forward because you are the future!
 
NA: Listening to the younger generation.
Standing with an open heart
like a tree swaying in the wind
Receiving your love
Your respect.
Valuing what we have shared, our projects, our dances,

KL: Because I am getting a little breathless, my love, and I need simplicity and clarity to carry me along the rest of my journey!This part of the journey is rich too, and I need to have my eyes open to learn from the hollow sites I will be passing through! And I need light and lightness to help me forward!
 
I need to know you will be there to carry on, my love, and continue to make your own memories.

NA: Enjoy your journey down the clear water of this mighty river. 

Celebrating the ceremonies of passage

Slowly pushing forward
Step by step
Generation after generation

But for now

It still is as it always was

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Overcoming
Nancy Atakan and Maria Andersson
2020

empty forms
and lost philosophy
chaos
order
chaos
order
in between
back and forth
here and there
time moving
backwards
time moving
forward
heroic females
female transformers
the other half
overcoming
enforced forgetfulness
triumphal triangle
lifting each other up
standing together
standing strong
standing still
radiant intelligence
flowing movement
inscribed
as body memory
the possibility
of the body
the possibility
of bodies
dance for the future
dance of the past
dance of eternity

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Everywhere
Nancy Atakan 2019

The female body shaped by the nation, everywhere.
The female body as a political discourse, everywhere.
The female body as an icon, everywhere.
The female body as a sex object, everywhere.
The female body as property, everywhere.

State-sponsored violence against women, everywhere.
Religion-supported violence against women, everywhere.
Family-supported violence against women, everywhere.

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Woman as a symbol of progress
2019

Woman as symbol of the Republic
Woman as symbol of westernization
Woman as symbol of modernization

Polarized, objectified, politicalized women
Patriatic Women teachers
Sexless Marxist women

Civilized mothers 
Civilized wives
Comrade women

Unselfish women
Patriotic wives
Patriotic mothers
Working women
Professional women
Educated bourgeois women

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Catching thoughts, losing track
Maria Andersson and Nancy Atakan
Text
2017

referencing a reference
rhythm of color

linking
dancing
stitching

circular movement
circular thought

noting
notation

threads of time

sew and sew and
sew just so

text on textile
text on text
text on and on

cutting shapes
shaping cuts

passing the past
overlapping over and over

thoughts on thoughts
thoughts on thought tracks

catching thoughts
losing track

finding ways

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Shore of Today

On the shore
of today
closed hearts
closed minds
darkness
illusion
devastation
demolition
Outstretched
arms
towards
the unknown
sinking steps
rippling waves
of emotion
strong currents
Cleaning tides
dredging up debris
at the edge of
our tolerance
on the shore of today

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Retaining People, Circulating Objects
2013

Exhibition
Exhibition
Artist mirrored artist
Did city mirror city?
Exhibition
Exhibition
Artistic practice mirrored artistic practice
Artists
Artists
Originated in two global cities
Discovered borders
Pierced borders
Cities
Cities
Globalization=New walls
New walls protect global cities
Protect from immigrants, protect from the ‘other
Global city
Global city
Powerful and powerless players
Are artist powerless players?
Istanbul Liverpool
Liverpool Istanbul
How are cities marketed?
Who are the actors?
What is the road of the artist?
What do artist contribute?
Artists point out.
Artist show opposite positions
who directly gains?
Inside and outside
Liverpool and Istanbul
Istanbul and Liverpool
Trade
Buy and sell commodities
Finance and industry
Exchange
Barter
Capitalism
Global capitalism
Bureaucracy is a business
Bureaucracy=The rule of nobody
How do artists trade?
Are there different methods?
Different disciplines
Art objects
Information
Language separates and unites
Cooperation
Cooperation
Advantages and disadvantages
(Not) shared identity
Borders and free zones
Can it work for everyone?

The verdict:
Did we share something?
YESSSSSSSSS
Could we understand each other?
NOOOOOOOOO
Could we try?
YESSSSSSSSS
Did we get a little closer?
YESSSSSSSSSS
Could we break down the boundaries?
NOOOOOOOOO
Did the 2012 ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ go to the European Union?
YESSSSSSSSS
Could we sleep comfortably while thinking about all this?
NOOOOOOOOO

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From Here

I AM NOT FROM HERE,
I LIVE HERE.

HE IS NOT FROM HERE,
HE LIVES HERE.

SHE IS NOT FROM HERE,
SHE LIVES HERE

THEY ARE NOT FROM HERE,
THEY LIVE HERE.

THE OTHERS ARE NOT FROM HERE,
THEY LIVE HERE.

EVEN THOSE FROM HERE ARE NOT
REALLY FROM HERE!

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A Sea of Possibilities

No fixed place
in a sea of possibilities
No underlying something
in everyday existence
No simultaneous image
of particles and waves

No way to measure
No way to see
No way to predict
No way to determine

Only jumps and leaps
Only jerky and broken reality
Excluding and choosing
Constantly interchanging
Spreading in all directions

Searching for lost probabilities
In our constructed illusions

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Between Two Voids
2006

Dumb with numbness between two voids. Moving, in darkness alone. Trapped. Oh! To feel. To love. To touch. To care. Mad with sadness. In darkness, alone, between two voids.

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The Wall

I don’t see the alternative to the left
I don’t see the door
I don’t see the alternative to the right.
I don’t see the door.
Sometimes my head feels split from my body.
And it floats up and away.
I only see the wall.
From afar through a window
From afar into the countryside,
Always afar or behind a fence
Never inside
Always outside
Even the sea is a wall
I separate but can never quite be two.
I want to be just one.
I don’t want my head to separate
or feel it separates
I want to be one
but not afar
to be in
to be
to be in.

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Yok/No More

No more far or near
No more progress
No more goals
No more action
No more meaning

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And

and is neither this nor that
and is always in-between two things
and belongs to neither
and marks the border of each
and has neither beginning nor end
within and experiences develop
events take place
revolutions evolve
like a river and flows
barely perceivable
and picks up speed in the middle
and undermines its own banks

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Documentation

I am documenting the document.
Someone is documenting my document.
The documentation is being documented.
My document, a documentation, is our document.
The document has been documented.