Pg Art Gallery is pleased to host Cansu Sönmez’s third solo exhibition, A Taste as Old as Cool Water, from March 7 to April 7, 2025.
The olive tree is an ancient entity, a timeless narrative that connects the past with the future. From mythology to ecology, it stands as a symbol of wisdom that has shaped the histories of cultures. While its roots cling firmly to the soil like monuments bearing witness to the passage of time, its trunk and fruit have served as both a source of life and a powerful emblem for humanity. Its leaves, heralding peace and wisdom, have found their place in sacred texts and artworks, while its fruit has become a symbol of transformation and immortality.
Lawrence Durrell once wrote, “The whole Mediterranean seems to rise out of the sour, pungent taste of black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cool water.” In this statement, he reminds us that the olive is not merely a fruit but a deeply rooted narrative of humanity. This exhibition extends this timeless story—a tale of transformation that emerges from nature and ultimately returns to it. At the intersection of mythology, culture, and ecology, it stands as a representation of ancient wisdom.
With A Taste as Old as Cool Water, Cansu Sönmez offers a contemporary perspective on this invaluable tree, bringing together multiple disciplines to craft a multidimensional portrait of the olive. Her new works establish a visual language that explores the transformation of the olive tree through historical reflections and ecological depth. Merging archival research, documentation, and material exploration, the artist incorporates artificial intelligence and a bio-leather derived from olive waste, developed by Oleatex, to investigate humanity’s evolving relationship with nature. Through the use of vegan bio-leather and bio-materials, her volumetric and textural works highlight the cycles and continuity of nature. Meanwhile, symbols shaped in these materials—ceramic crowns, collages, and AI-generated video imagery—form a multilayered narrative.
A Taste as Old as Cool Water approaches the olive not only as a fruit or a historical symbol but as a dynamic element of transformation and sustainability. Sönmez reinterprets the olive tree’s deep-rooted connection to themes of peace, abundance, and wisdom within today’s precarious realities. The olive is not merely a vessel of past knowledge but also a metaphor for questioning how this wisdom can be preserved and carried into the future.
Rather than using rigid and sharp forms, Sönmez embraces fluid and transformative surfaces to convey the wisdom of the past into the present. In doing so, A Taste as Old as Cool Water emphasizes that transformation is possible—not extinction. It reveals that the olive is not just a relic of the past but also a key to a sustainable future. Through her works, Cansu Sönmez invites viewers to reflect on nature’s cycle of return and the role humanity plays within it.
