With Kervan, the central question is: “What is home, and how does someone experience a sense of home?” This question addresses a feeling that is fundamentally important to everyone. The question arose in response to the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023. The people living in the affected areas not only lost their homes, but also their loved ones and their cities. A place once deeply connected to memories and people can suddenly disappear from one day to the next.
 

When artist Emin Batman found himself in the disaster area as a volunteer translator, he decided that he wanted to continue contributing to people’s lives in a more sustainable way. Kervan creates a space for people to meet, share experiences, and learn from one another.
 

As the Kervan team, we feel the need to create space to strengthen both the intangible and material aspects of the feeling of home, and to acknowledge its importance. By developing a mobile artist-in-residence—the Kervan—which functions as a studio and a cultural and arts centre, we create opportunities for diverse artists to connect with communities. Through co-creation, they can work together to strengthen, rediscover, restore, or acknowledge their sense of home.
 

In this process, art serves as a means of education, identity, and healing. The community becomes an active creator, with the ability to give something back to themselves, their surroundings, and one another.