What remains when the ocean begins to disappear? Ali Vedad Yüner – Bycatch at AUTOR 2026
About disappearance, memory, and what remains unseen.
There comes a moment when loss is no longer visible. Not because it no longer exists, but because we become accustomed to it.
The ocean is approaching that point. It is estimated that 90% of global fish stocks could be depleted by 2050 if current practices continue. What disappears is not only a source of food, but an entire system of cultural, social, and symbolic relationships. In this context, certain things begin to take on a different meaning.
Ali Vedad Yüner is among the artists participating in AUTOR 2026, the international contemporary jewellery fair taking place on May 16-17 in the Lapidarium space of the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest.
Based in Brooklyn and developing a practice shaped around the relationship between biology, cultural memory, and form, the artist creates objects that move beyond ornament and open conversations about fragility, disappearance, and the ways we relate to the natural world.
Ali Vedad Yüner works precisely within this space of tension. For him, marine life is not a theme, but a subject that needs to be brought closer.
Born in Turkey and now based in Brooklyn, he builds his practice at the intersection of biology, cultural memory, and form. The objects he creates do not simplify, but preserve complexity.
The starting point of the collection is Bycatch, accidental catches in fishing practices, which account for nearly 40% of the global total.
These are forms that exist, yet remain unseen. Species captured, discarded, and forgotten.
In this collection, they become visible.
Not as faithful representations, but as presences. Forms that can be worn, yet refuse to be reduced to aesthetics alone.
The chosen material is wood, in deliberate contrast to the idea of permanence usually associated with metals. It introduces a real fragility, aligned with the ecosystems the work refers to.
The pieces are not finished in the classical sense. They retain traces, tensions, a certain “restlessness” within their form.
Here, jewellery no longer functions as ornament.
It becomes a way of bringing an immense reality down to a personal scale. Something that can be worn, but also acknowledged.
The collection will be presented within the context of AUTOR 2026, where contemporary jewellery is regarded as a form of thinking, not merely as an object.
AUTOR 2026
May 16–17 | National Museum of Romanian History – Lapidarium
Collection
Ali Vedad Yüner Jewelry
A body of work rooted in the phenomenon of bycatch, exploring the disappearance of marine life as both an ecological and cultural loss. Through organic forms and renewable materials, the collection brings into focus what usually remains unseen.
AUTOR is one of the leading platforms dedicated to contemporary jewellery in Central and Eastern Europe, bringing together international artists, galleries, collectors, and audiences interested in the contemporary object as a form of cultural expression.