Remembering is associated with the desire to leave a mark behind. Tombstones are one of the most enduring forms of this desire. De profundis explores how these traces have transformed over time and how they can be read today, taking as its starting point the tombstones found in St. Peter’s Church and the Feriköy Latin Catholic Cemetery.

In the 19th century, the relocation of cemeteries outside city centers due to changing health and urban planning policies was one of the transformations that also affected St. Peter’s Church. While remains were transferred to other cemeteries, some tombstones stayed in place and gradually became part of the church’s architecture. Once surfaces of prayer and a kind of sanctity, these surfaces continue to bear the traces of individual and collective memory today while appearing as ordinary parts of daily life.

De profundis (Lat. from the depths) views this transformation not merely as a story of urban history, preservation, or loss, but as the metamorphosis of memory. The works in the exhibition recreate the inscriptions and decorations on the tombstones using various printing and reproduction techniques. The layered history accumulated over the years on the church wall becomes a reference point for the production process.

The visual material obtained from the tombstones in St. Peter’s Church and the Feriköy Latin Catholic Cemetery brings together the stories of people who lived in different times and came to Istanbul from various geographies onto the same surfaces. Through the stones, the exhibition makes visible once again not only individual life stories, but also the traces left by modernization on everyday life.

Liana Kuyumcuyan’s exhibition de profundis will open on Friday, October 9, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at St. Peter’s Church.