Gökçen Cabadan invites viewers to reflect on identity, belonging, and connections with the external world through her new solo exhibition Anti-Baby at Öktem Aykut. The exhibition, composed of works created over the past two years, portrays the tense encounters between the desire for security and solitude and the yearning for union with the world, drawing from the imagery of the fetal position.
Bringing together the artist’s recent body of work, Anti-Baby opened at Öktem Aykut Gallery on April 10 and will remain on view until May 3. Through thirteen new pieces, the exhibition creates space for a deep inquiry into the individual’s experience of selfhood and their relationship with the external world.
Cabadan fills the limited space of the gallery with fictional portraits and surreal scenes, inviting viewers into both a visual and intellectual experience. The thirteen works on display are fragments of a personal narrative distilled from the artist’s own experiences over the past two years. Working primarily with oil pastels and oil paint on canvas, Cabadan focuses on how the self is shaped in relation to the outer world.
A recurring motif in the exhibition is the fetal position, which functions as a metaphor throughout. The comfort, security, and isolation symbolized by the womb are juxtaposed with the vast, intimidating expanse of the outside world and the complexity of interpersonal relationships. This tension lies at the heart of Anti-Baby. Through her visual universe, Cabadan explores the separation that underlies the individual’s connection with the world and with others.
Anti-Baby is not only a personal narrative; it also draws viewers into a fairy tale of adulthood. Concepts such as productivity, doubt, desire, possibility, and time form the conceptual backbone of the exhibition. The title itself encapsulates the spirit of this narrative: Anti-Baby is a heartfelt expression of the complex, exhausting, and at times inevitable processes that begin after birth.
Cabadan does not merely ask viewers to bear witness—she invites them to become part of the process. Drawing from her own life experiences, she presents her questions with honesty, inspired by the transformative power of storytelling. Visitors are offered a chance to exist alongside these questions, to think, and perhaps even to search for answers.
Gökçen Cabadan’s Anti-Baby exhibition can be visited at Öktem Aykut Gallery until May 3.
