Collective Existence

The inVISIBLE TRACES? exhibition draws nourishment from individual and collective forms of resistance developed against everyday experiences interwoven with racism, discrimination, and patriarchal patterns. In the works prepared by the participants — that is, the curators of the inVISIBLE TRACES? exhibition — for their own rooms, they point to the multilayered burdens they carry due to both their minority identities and being women. They express that this burden is shaped not only by exclusionary social structures but also by tensions within the communities themselves and the power relations that are reproduced internally.

The narratives in the rooms make visible the fragile balance between remaining closed within small ethnic and religious communities and the desire to open up. While the sense of belonging is protected, the desire to be visible in the public sphere, to move freely, and to express identities that hold both hope and anxiety is emphasized.

The “invisibility strategy” that stands out in the narratives of Jewish, Armenian, and Greek women in Turkey is a survival form developed under conditions of discrimination, prejudice, and pressure extending from the past to the present. Racist and discriminatory experiences endured in childhood turn into a constant state of alertness in the public sphere and transform invisibility into a security mechanism.

The curators of the inVISIBLE TRACES? exhibition question the boundaries of invisibility in every room and open spaces aimed at transforming it. The creative coping ways narrated in the exhibition rooms turn into a source of solidarity and inspiration through sharing these experiences. The exhibition brings together Greek, Armenian, and Jewish women on a common ground of visibility. In this encounter, under the shadow of historical traumas, insecurities, societal prejudices, and patriarchies, silenced or shouted emotions, vulnerability and resistance, fear and courage intertwine. Thus, the curators of the exhibition construct a collective space of existence with the transformative power of becoming visible together.

İstanbul Gender Museum