ART CITIES:Istanbul-Gülçin Aksoy
Gülçin Aksoy, both in her individual practice using various media and in artist collectives that she has been part of or collaborated with, as well as in her ongoing education career, tries to develop a language that aims to reveal commonplace ideological constructs and all sorts of power mechanisms ingrained in daily and institutional life. In addition to several personal productions, she has been a part of many collective projects.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Zilberman Gallery Archive
Gülçin Aksoy’s project exhibition titled “A” proceeds through traditional language coding, invites audiences to think about two Turkish words which lack an equivalent in many languages: “older sister” (abla) and “older brother” (abi). Aksoy interrogates the hierarchy of “A”, which emerges with birth, starting from these two words which both begin with the same letter. The artist is conducting this investigation upon women who take time to physically distinguish themselves in this geography. Aksoy is drawing attention to the ages in which women can be themselves in conjunction with time and physical development. Working with a group of women, she is shedding light on the delightful ages in which they are no longer sisters or brothers and are not particularly interested in being classified as women or men. The women in the project meet with the viewers during this period as, in the artist’s words “One human offspring”. Parallel to the project, the second leg of the exhibition is taking place under the title of “The Family Cemetery I Love” in the artist’s workshop in Karaköy’s Perşembe Pazarı in Istanbul. Aksoy, between these two venues, is drawing a direct route from “BROTHER” and “SISTER” to the family cemetery. The trees the artist has assembled metaphorically along the walls of the workshop stand out as a sincere expression of the feelings of losing one’s living space and of being moved every day. The trail of trees, with the demands of being mobile, rootless and rooted, sways within the confines of existence and nonexistence. These tree silhouettes, drawn white on a black surface, in the artist’s words, continue to maintain a presence in the space just before the dark and as her own graveyard.
Info: Zilberman-Project Space Istanbul, İstiklal Cad. No.163 Mısır Apartmanı K.3 D.10 Beyoğlu / Istanbul, Duration: 11/11-30/12/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-19:30, Sat 12:00-19:30, http://zilbermangallery.com