Nancy Atakan's solo exhibition "Don't Destroy Me" will be hosted between February 5 and April 12, 2025. Curated by artist Can Küçük, the exhibition focuses on the places Nancy Atakan visited and wanted to record, the people she established strong bonds with, and the ways she incorporated the memories that are etched in her mind into her own practice. The three-part narrative of the exhibition moves between various togethernesses constructed around Atakan's works and a more personal space where she shares her inner voice.
The first part of the exhibition focuses on the parallelism between the artist's practice of combining fabrics from different periods, people, and spaces on the same plane and her bringing her relatives together during the production process. The second part opens up to the artist's private space through the words placed on the surface of the works and the images of personal objects. In the last part, Atakan addresses the concept of friendship on the edge of thoughts about the vanished, with images of her own body and close friends.
"Don't Destroy Me" brings the working practices that Can Küçük and Nancy Atakan have been developing together in various contexts for a long time to the exhibition with the works they have produced in collaboration for the first time. In addition, a video installation that Atakan produced together with Dilek Aydın, who is a close colleague and collaborator of his on video projects, meets the audience in the exhibition. Atakan's photography series "Save Me", which she started in 2010 with the aim of documenting the structures destroyed in the city, expands with a focus on venues in Bursa and transforms into a new production specifically for this exhibition.
Who is Nancy Atakan?
American-born Nancy Atakan has played an active role in the Istanbul art scene as an artist, teacher and art historian since the 1970s. The artist's research-based and collaborative works focus on topics such as ecology, femininity, identity, gender politics, memory, globalization, urban transformation and the relationship between image and word. With a light and humorous approach, she observes current events and offers references to Türkiye's history and culture. Keeping the concept at the forefront, the artist uses a wide range of techniques and materials such as textile, embroidery, digital printing, photography, neon and video.
Her works have been exhibited in institutions such as Arkas Art Center, SALT Beyoğlu, Elgiz Museum, OMM (Odunpazarı Modern Museum), CerModern and Istanbul Modern Art Museum in Türkiye. She has also taken place abroad in important venues such as Gazelli Art House (Baku, Azerbaijan), Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis (Bregenz), Pi Artworks (London), Akademie der Kunst (Berlin), Riksidrottsmuseet (Stockholm), ISCP - International Studio and Curatorial Program (New York), Scandinavian Art Association NFK (Stockholm) and Vasteras Art Museum (Vasteras, Sweden).
Nancy Atakan was among the founders of the artist initiative 5533 in 2007. The artist's work is represented by Pi Artworks Istanbul/London.
Source: https://t24.com.tr/haber/nancy-atakan-in-kisisel-sergisi-beni-yok-etme-sanatseverlerle-bulustu,1221494#google_vignette