Cemre Atay (1988, she/her) is a visual artist who was born as the first child of an Alevi Zaza family in a suburb of Istanbul. Her artistic practice is based on autobiographical experiences and deals with a queer-feminist critique of hegemonic institutions of patriarchy. In her paintings, ceramic works and collages, Cemre explores streams of consciousness, memories and dreams that address fundamental aspects of the family as the smallest structural unit of power, the position of women/gender dissidents in Turkish society as well as pedophilia and ethnicization processes in children. She enrolled in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University in 2010 in the Department of Ceramics-Glass and has been living as an independent artist since 2017. Solo exhibitions: Café Kotti – Berlin (2021 June), “Faces of Kreuzberg”. Basken Universitesi Toplumsal Cinsiyet Arastirmalari Merkezi – Ankara (2020) “Baskent’te 100 Kadin 100 Eser” group exhibition. Due to visa restrictions, Cemre is currently trying to migrate to Berlin.
1/1 Exhibition: Queere-Feministische Überkreuzungen (IN) DER Migration
The multimedia exhibition by Cemre Atay, a Turkish-Kurdish, non-binary artist who is migrating to Berlin from November 24 to 30 at Zemin Berlin, presents her works from an autobiographical perspective. She wants to reflect on gender roles and the power structures of patriarchy. Berlin is still extremely affected by misogyny, especially trans*/queer migrant women.
In the heart of Kreuzberg we want to talk about gender oppressions and their contemporary experiences/representations so that resonance can be found in the experiences of many other migrants in the city. Reflecting intersectionally on aspects of gender norms in social life (sometimes in subtle glimpses of everyday life, sometimes in immediate symbolism) in this exhibition means bringing to light the cause of migration from the global South to Berlin – and thus questioning the specific contours of the city’s power dynamics and its various migrant communities in terms of gender.
