Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad

Framer Framed is happy to present the publication Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad by artist Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) and poet Murad Zorava. Two Diaries has been made in cooperation with Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and published by Walther & Franz König. The book includes more than forty full-color drawings by Gluklya and can be purchased via Framer Framed’s webshop.

About the book
The diaries of Gluklya and Murad emerge from their respective time in Bijlmerbajes, a former prison-turned-refugee center on the edge of Amsterdam, in 2017. In one tower of the prison complex, Gluklya was then renting an artist studio; in the other, Murad lived during his asylum-seeking process in the Netherlands.

Two Diaries follows Gluklya’s struggles against the bureaucracy of the asylum seekers’ center and her work to engage with its residents in her artistic process, as well as her coming to terms with the fundamental inequality of her own situation and those of the individuals she tries to reach through her projects. In navigating this inequality through art, Gluklya begins to write a diary and proposes to her new collaborators in Bijlmerbajes to do the same. Murad, whose diary reckons with his own experience as a refugee, accepts this invitation. While awaiting his residency status, Murad writes on the impact of the asylum process on his agency, the adjustment to the Netherlands and the pain of the distance between himself and his loved ones, his homeland and the ongoing political struggles there.

Pages: 240
ISBN 9783753302867
25 EUR
64 Full-color illustrations
Languages: English, Kurdish & Turkish
Publisher: Walther & Franz König
Editors: Charles Esche & Ashley Maum
Producers: Framer Framed & Van Abbemuseum
Designer: Bardhi Haliti

Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad is published on the occasion of To those who have no time to play, an exhibition of Gluklya curated by Charles Esche at Framer Framed (October 14, 2022–January 22, 2023). Gluklya's project in Bijlmerbajes was made possible through a residency with the organisation TAAK.

Order your copy here.