Writer, activist and surreal biography artist Vahap Aydoğan is preparing to present his exhibition "Sükût" ("Silence") in May at the grounds of the historic Germüş Church in Şanlıurfa, southeastern Türkiye.
The exhibition constructs a narrative examining the traces left by war, migration and injustice, particularly on women and children, through what Aydoğan describes as the collective memory of humanity. Rather than offering direct representation, the project focuses on what is repressed, rendered invisible or left unspoken. It addresses issues including femicide, forced marriage, the devaluation of labor, displacement, loss of identity and the right to safety, treating them not as isolated incidents but as an ongoing field of rupture.
Aydoğan frames history not simply as a record of the past, but as a layered space of memory that persists within the fractures of the present. In line with this approach, the exhibition brings together the life stories of 20 women from 20 different geographies, spanning from Göbeklitepe to the present day. Despite their cultural and geographic differences, these biographies converge around a shared axis: the fragility of the right to safety.
The exhibition space itself is designed as an integral part of the narrative. A circular viewing arrangement constructed around the derelict church is intended not to exclude the audience but to draw them into the story, transforming viewers from passive observers into witnessing subjects.
Mirrors placed between display stands serve as thresholds that deepen this encounter, confronting viewers not only with the works but also with their own gaze. In doing so, the installation makes visible the distance between seeing and being seen, and between witnessing and responsibility.
Video art, installations and oil-painted biographical works are combined within a single narrative field. Personal belongings and life inventories included in the installations blur the line between fiction and reality, inviting visitors into not only a story but also a collective memory.
Preparations for the exhibition by Vahap Aydoğan are ongoing.
