Homeland of the Departed

The title of the exhibition elucidates the challenges and trauma enacted through the Population Exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Known in Greek as Aνταλλαγή (Antallagí) and in Turkish as مبادله (Mübadele), the Population Exchange of 1923 was agreed upon by the Greek and Turkish governments under the supervision of the League of Nations. On 30 January 1923, each party signed the “Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations.” This convention, part of the Treaty of Lausanne, stipulated that: 

“Article 1. As from the 1st May, 1923, there shall take place a compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Moslem religion established in Greek territory.”

Using a wide-variety of materials, the exhibition weaves between the modern histories of Greece and Turkey illustrating the traumatic effects of the forced displacement of, approximately 1.6 million people. Communities were torn apart, and were forced to ‘return’ to a land that was, in reality foreign. The subtitle, Unmixing and Remixing stems from the ubiquitous issue that many of the exchangees did not speak or had not visited the place to which they were being ‘returned.’ Entire communities were deemed to be moved to the homeland of the departed. 

The exhibition was curated by Sean E. Swanick. Special thanks to Meg Brown, Gülşah Taşkın, Erik Zitser, Selim S. Kuru, Ekber And, Sinan Kunerlap, Kevin Jackson, Yorgos Dedes, Adam Mestyan, Esra Akcan, Fouzia El Gargouri, and Kenneth Daniel.

For more information, please visit a series of blog posts by Sean E. Swanick: 

İzmir and the 1923 Mübadele/Ἀνταλλαγή/Population Exchange

Trabzon and the 1923 Mübadele/Ἀνταλλαγή/Population Exchange

Ayvalık and the 1923 Mübadele/Ἀνταλλαγή/Population Exchange

Cappadocia and the 1923 Mübadele/Ἀνταλλαγή/Population Exchange