'Perched' was on view in the Islamic Middle East Gallery at Victoria and Albert Museum, London, June 6th 2018 through April 22 2019

Shown at the museum's Islamic Middle East Gallery, 'Perched' consisted of 41 mould-blown glass swallows, by Turkish artist Felekşan Onar, and the first contemporary art intervention by an artist from the Middle East in the Islamic gallery. The delicate swallows, with their wings trimmed and unable to fly, are inspired by Birds Without Wings, a historical novel by Louis De Bernières, set in the era of population exchanges between Greece and Turkey, but in line with Onar's artistic vision, these birds concretely articulate a response to the plight of millions of Syrians displaced in Turkey: Like the birds in 'Perched', these are a people in flight that yet are grounded – unable to fly and also to move on.

 Firmly embedded in the cultural traditions of her native Turkey, a constant source of inspiration in her work, the swallows speak fluently the language of Islamic and Ottoman heritage, but at the same time they also belong to the here-and-now. At V&A, some of the birds were arranged in shelves, resembling the telephone wires that real-life swallows perch on, taking a central position in the gallery but yet within a distance, making the sense of isolation and alienation palpable to the audience, breaking apart the comfortable aesthetic the birds might acquire otherwise. The opening of the display coincided with Refugee Week 2018, and during the course of the exhibition, the artist came together with Louis De Bernières for a conversation at the museum.

Established during the Victorian era, with vast holdings spanning 5,000 years of art from around the world, the V&A would be the second Western museum to present 'Perched', enlarging a conversation about the journeys of both peoples and cultural heritage. In London, the exhibition received critical acclaim by the audience, with its subtle language and pensive message, at a time when the ongoing migrations due to conflict, continue unmolested throughout the world far away from the front pages, and the Syrian question in Turkey remains unresolved. Seven of the birds remain in the V&A and have been accessioned into the permanent collection, and will find a permanent home in the museum's Glass Gallery.