MeÅŸher is an art
exhibition
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
space on
Istiklal Street in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, operated by the private
Vehbi Koç Foundation
The Vehbi Koç Foundation () is one of the biggest non-governmental charitable organizations in Turkey. It was established on January 17, 1969 by the Turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist Vehbi Koç (1901-1996). The foundation is active in the fi ...
. MeÅŸher was founded in 2019 in the building that formerly housed the
Arter
Arter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Harry Arter
* Jared Maurice Arter
* Kingsley Arter Taft
* Philip and Uriah Arter, after whom Philip and Uriah Arter Farm is named
* Robert Arter
* Solomon Arter, after whom Solomon Art ...
.
The name MeÅŸher is the
Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
word ( ) meaning exhibition or exhibition space.
''I-You-They: A Century of Artist Women'' (2021–2022)
The exhibition named ''I-You-They: A Century of Artist Women'' initially was held from 9 October 2021 to 27 March 2022 but was later extended another two months until 29 May 2022.
It included pieces created by female artists who were based in Turkey and active between the years of the 1850s and the 1950s.
It intends to recognize artists that are largely unrecognized in classic art history.
The exhibition was curated by Deniz Artun, and was created under patronage by
Çiğdem Simavi.
The exhibition displayed more than 200 artworks by women artists, some of whose names have been forgotten and others who are well-known. Most of the works had never been part of an exhibition before. According to co-curator of the exhibition Ebru Esra Satıcı "''one of the objectives of this exhibition is to point out these...hidden treasures to
research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
ers,
art historians
The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...
or
scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
s who are specialising on
women's studies
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
to conduct more research on these names and come up with new finds''". The exhibition was split into three floors with their own themes; ''I'', ''You'' and ''They''. The first floor, ''I'', focuses on the artists' theme of self-perception, reflections, or other forms of self-discovery and includes among others self-portrait photographs and other artworks. The second floor, ''You'', is about motherhood among other themes, it is about the close environment of the artist, children or parents and displays artworks within that theme. The third floor, ''They'', shows artworks around the theme of how society sees women including artworks that society expects women to paint featuring more domestic topics including flowers, children, food and plants.
List of exhibitions
*2019 – ''Beyond the Vessel'', Myths, Legends, and Fables in Contemporary Ceramics around Europe, (September 13 – December 22)
*2020 – ''
Alexis Gritchenko – The Constantinople Years'', (7 February – 1 November)
*2021/2022 – ''I-You-They: A Century of Artist Women'', (October 9, 2021 – May 29, 2022)
Notes
References
2019 establishments in Turkey
Arts organizations established in 2019
Arts organizations based in Turkey
Art museums and galleries in Istanbul
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