Location BIAA, 154 Atatürk Bulvarı, Ankara
Date and time
Thursday 28 September 2023
16:00 - 18:00 (London GMT)
19:00 - 21:00 (Ankara UTC+3)
Speakers
Birnur Birtane
MILKistEbru Agduk
UN WOMEN Türkiye
Olive is a social film that presents traditional ways of harvesting and centuries-old vegetation that are fading and need conservation. Women farmers are decreasing in number every year, and they are leading the way for the preservation of cultural and agricultural story telling. Climate change is forcing them to quit their farming traditions, which usually is their family legacy.
In the film, farmers take the viewers around their fields and analyse the condition of the vegetation in the area. Their struggle to remain in agricultural practices and choosing traditional harvesting methods that consider floral sensibilities despite the climatic conditions shine through while sharing feelings of distinctive life stories. In a time when farming and agricultural production is praised but not fully acknowledged in terms of the extraordinary workload and the challenges involved, this film shows the complete real-life stories. In the midst of extreme climate change, natural disasters and fading flora, nature is not to be romanticized but to be protected and maintained with voluminous care and effort.
Birnur Temel Birtane is the founding director of MILKist. She studied sculpture and art history at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She worked as a curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art from 2009-2015 and founded MILKist in 2017. 154 natural ink workshops reached agricultural workers and rural villages in 15 cities. She collaborated with women farmers to transform lost agricultural produce into ink sources and compiled a book called: ‘’A Farmer’s Colors - Natural Ink Making’’.
Ebru Ağduk, with two decades of experience in governance, advocacy, policy, and international organizations, specializes in women's rights, advocacy, and parliamentary reform. She holds a BA and an MA in Communications Studies, completed as a Chevening Scholar, and has worked at National Democratic Institute, Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, and European Union-funded projects. She is currently Programme Specialist at UN Women, managing a programme implemented in partnership with CSOs to influence national and local women’s rights and gender equality agendas.