This initiative, brought to life by the Alliance of Narrative Power, which consists of human rights defenders, platforms, and associations from across Turkey, showcases new productions questioning oppressive and homogenizing social rhetorics. The exhibition features works by artists such as Belit Sağ, Cansu Yıldıran, Fatma Belkıs, Furkan Öztekin (in collaboration with Ceyhan Fırat), Kiki ggNash, Nejbir Erkol, Üzüm Derin Solak, and Zeyno Pekünlü. Through diverse media like painting, photography, video, publications, and installations, these artists explore the relationship between text, image, and body, crafting liberating narratives.
The exhibition also includes new writings by Marina Papazyan and Jilet Sebahat, archival research materials by Serdar Soydan and the Trans Memory Collective, as well as an existing work by Gregg Bordowitz.
Curated by Onur Karaoğlu and Alper Turan, with coordination by Berfin Atlı, the exhibition will be on view at Barın Han from January 9 to February 9, 2025.
Shaping Oppression, Bodies, and Narratives
The exhibition is rooted in resistance against the oppressive effects of anti-gender movements. Inspired by the marginalization of queer, trans, and feminist bodies in public spaces under societal and institutional pressures, the artists interrogate how printed materials and narratives take shape through art and bodies. The works form layered topographies on flattened surfaces—photos, papers, canvases, and walls—challenging one-dimensional narratives and reclaiming depth through narrative power.
Rethinking Margins: The Poetics of Non-Mainstream Narratives
Artists like Zeyno Pekünlü, Nejbir Erkol, Fatma Belkıs, and Gregg Bordowitz trace non-mainstream narratives. Pekünlü visualizes collective emotions and strategy discussions through scribbles taken from the Alliance’s meeting notes. Erkol explores the spatial spread of the word arıza (fault), probing the tension between consent and disruption. Belkıs narrates a woman’s self-defense story in the format of a brochure presumed unreadable. Bordowitz highlights the urgency of the AIDS crisis through grammatical “errors.”
Visualizing Existence: Resistance Against Censorship
Cansu Yıldıran, Belit Sağ, and Üzüm Derin Solak examine visibility as a form of existence against censorship, reimagining it through feminist, trans, Muslim, and Kurdish experiences. Yıldıran questions the ethics of visibility for Muslim feminist bodies with portraits of Havle Women’s Association members. Sağ confronts the politics of censorship through films created with Ruken Ay and Sevil Tunaboylu from Van Star Women’s Association. Solak investigates the possibilities of photographing women+ and queer bodies in public spaces after Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
Archives of the Self and Memory
Kiki ggNash creates a “family” portrait of past selves through self-portraits on burned surfaces, embedding inaccessible personal histories into visual memory. Furkan Öztekin (with Ceyhan Fırat) examines the fluidity and credibility of narratives, inspired by Ceyhan Fırat’s archives. Serdar Soydan reconstructs personal histories of gender-bending figures with an archival approach. Fictional texts by Marina Papazyan and Jilet Sebahat question historical and contemporary geographies of memory. The Trans Memory Collective contributes a compilation of publications documenting the history of Turkey’s trans movement.
Alliance of Narrative Power: United Against Discrimination
The Alliance of Narrative Power unites advocacy groups across Turkey to resist oppression and combat discrimination against women and LGBTI+ communities. Comprising organizations like SPoD, DEMOS, Politikada İyilik Hali, Havle Women’s Association, Positive Solidarity, Van Star Women’s Association, and KuirGaming, the alliance builds a long-term coalition against authoritarian pressures, creating a new narrative power that challenges gender-based discrimination.
