The Migration of Art
Migration of Art is the product of an endeavor to put aside the negative images formed around the phenomenon of migration, which has occupied the agenda of Turkey for a while, and to concentrate on the opportunities and possibilities created by cultural diversity. For this reason, we have turned our center of attention to immigrant artists living in Turkey. We want to enrich migration, which has become a reality in Turkey, with the individual experiences of witnesses from the field of art and make their lives a part of our own story. By looking at the daily lives of migrant artists in Turkey, and their art practices, and listening to them, we want to eliminate the existing stereotypical image related to migration and desire to portray a new picture of migration. The Migration of Art project is not merely an effort to “understand the other". It focuses on similarities instead of differences, and interactions instead of encounters. In short, it presents the opportunity to listen to our own stories from different perspectives that we are not able to see.
The representations related to the issue of migration in Turkey usually show people in mass number together marching on roads, mostly children and women, or attempting to cross the border with boats, hence images that portray poverty and deprivation in the refugee camps. On one hand, it is possible to understand these images thinking of the journey of asylum seekers who have no chance rather than to migrate to Turkey. On the other hand, the opportunities, benefits, and contributions of migration are not adequately addressed. We have launched the Migration of Art project to contribute to this issue. With the project, we plan to explore the migration stories of artists who contribute to different fields using their art and have emigrated to Turkey. How their experiences affect their art, what kind of situation their new lives are in and what kind of contributions they offer to the field of art in Turkey. In addition, we hope to contribute to the literature by organising a workshop on the topic of how the cultural diversity brought by artists who came through migration enriches the field of art in Turkey.
At this point, the study of Syrian artists who live in Turkey under the refugee status has a significance in several aspects. First of all, the effects of this qualified labor force coming through immigration in Turkey will be evaluated. By interviewing the representatives of an important field such as art, where cultural symbols are produced, the Turkish art experiences of immigrants will be explained through along with the transformation of these symbols after settling in Turkey. In this way, the work will try to determine whether Turkey is an attraction for these artists in the context of the field of culture and art and the advantages and disadvantages it carries.
This project aims to reveal the effects of migration on the fields of culture and art and has been completed under auspices of İLKE Foundation that has considerably contributed to the society through various projects in different fields it has undertaken over years
İLKE - Foundation For Science, Culture and Education
Aziz Mahmut Hüdayi Mah.
Türbe Kapısı Sok. No: 13 Üsküdar/İSTANBUL
Phone Number: +90 216 532 63 70
Mail: sanatingocu@ilke.org.tr