This spring, VISION Art Platform presents Intersections, a group exhibition that brings together multilayered narratives in contemporary art exploring identity, belonging, and memory. Curated by art historian and writer Fırat Arapoğlu, the exhibition invites viewers on an intellectual journey from personal stories to collective memory—urging them to rethink identity not as a fixed essence but as an ongoing process in constant construction.
Opening on April 29, Intersections focuses on identity through its individual, cultural, social, and political dimensions, offering an interdisciplinary space of inquiry. Through the diverse media of contemporary art, the show highlights identity as a mutable and negotiated structure, continuously shaped and reshaped. Viewers are encouraged to reflect on both personal and collective constructions of selfhood.
Participating artists include Aida Mahmudova, Fatih Temiz, Semih Zeki, Payidar Şeyma Alışır, Lara Sayılgan, E. S. Kibele Yarman, Mert Acar, Rene Mayer, Sefa Çakır, Berna Dolmacı, and Soyhan Baltacı. Each artist approaches the concept of identity from a different angle, weaving a rich narrative through personal experiences, historical references, social structures, and geographic contexts.
Intersections is structured around three fundamental thematic pillars: individual identity and personal narratives; cultural heritage and belonging; and memory and the construction of identity. The exhibition not only addresses these themes but also critiques, transforms, and reconstructs them through contemporary art. Drawing from Judith Butler’s proposition that “identity is not innate but a performative process,” personal narratives are presented through the artists’ relationships with their own experiences and histories. This approach offers viewers not only a glimpse into the inner world of the artist but also a space in which to question their own constructions of identity.
Belonging is another key concept that the exhibition particularly focuses on. The bond individuals feel toward a community, a geography, a culture, or a history may at times present itself as a sense of security, and at other times as a site of tension. Inspired by Edward Said’s assertion that “belonging is not just an attachment, but something continually reproduced within power relations and social hierarchies,” many works in the exhibition aim to challenge dominant narratives of identity.
Memory, the third focus of the exhibition, brings attention to the role of time, remembrance, and narration in the construction of identity. Paul Ricoeur’s idea that “identity is formed through the stories we tell about ourselves” finds visual expression in many of the works on view. The artists question how memory shapes identity on both individual and collective levels; how the past echoes into the present; and how each act of narration is, in essence, an act of reconstruction.
Intersections does not merely invite its visitors to see an art exhibition, but also to think, rebuild, and question. It highlights the intellectual richness that contemporary art can offer on the topic of identity. In a world that is increasingly fragmented, globalized, and pluralized, the exhibition brings renewed focus to questions of selfhood, belonging, and history.
The exhibition is on view at VISION Art Platform through July 26.
