Former RC art teacher and university counsellor, renowned artist Nancy Atakan has a new exhibition, Beni Yok Etme (Save Me, Don’t Destroy Me) at İmalat-hane in Bursa, running through April 12, 2025. The bulk of the work in the show comes from several of Atakan’s projects dating from the early 2000s to the present and feature a wide range of media, from photography to video, from textile to embroidery. Atakan explains that works have been taken out of one context and placed side by side in a new context like words brought together to create a new story: “In a sense this exhibition itself translates memories and personal history into artistic practice.”
Can Küçük, artist/curator of the show, was formerly Atakan’s assistant in her collaborative exhibition at SALT Beyoğlu, Forward March and from then onwards the two worked closely together culminating in this exhibition where they also created two new collaborative artworks.
The title of the show harks back to Atakan’s 2010 work highlighting the effects of gentrification: “In 2010 I walked from Nişantaşı to Tophane taking photographs of buildings or local shops threatened by gentrification, after placing my SAVE ME/Don’t Destroy Me signs in their windows. Now, İmalat-hane has added photographs of endangered Bursa buildings to the Istanbul series. Of course, I realize that this title can generate numerous speculations or interpretations. I prefer that spectators make their own conclusions after viewing the artwork.”
Published February 2025
