Video Works
Video Works
MEHMET
MEHMET, 2005
Single channel video
The video shows a performative entity that is constructed through images of migrant identity. The work, placed in the context of public space, consists of a minimal but highly charged action that draws attention to the processes by which appearance is read and interpreted.
The work does not tell a story; it isolates an instant in which identity becomes visible as a projection. The way in which dress, attitude, and posture are read as codes for interpretation and recognition draws upon images and stereotypes associated with migrant identity. The figure appears to be both controlled and exposed, as it seems to be caught between self-performance and role.
By condensing action to a concentrated form, the work highlights the tension between individuality and stereotype. The body appears as a surface upon which cultural codes are projected, revealing the ease with which identity can be fixed through external perception.
However, the work also subverts a fixed interpretation. The ambiguity of the action leaves room for uncertainty, and the figure appears to slide between familiarity and strangeness. In this way, the video engages in a self-reflexive manner with the fragile and constructed nature of social identity in the context of the dynamics of public space.
Exhibitions & Screenings (selection)
2012: The Praise of Folly, curated by Juan-Ramón Barbancho, Foundation Chirivella Soriano, Valencia, Spain
2012: Identity II, Forming Identity, curated by Claudia Marion Stemberger. Fotogalleri wien, Vienna, Austria
2012: L’Oeil sur les rues, Parc de la Villette, Pavillon Delouvrier, Paris, France
2008: Emerging Discourse II: Performance and Mimicry, curated by Shaheen Merali, Bodhi Art, New YorK, USA
2006: Something in Common, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/ Main, Germany (solo exhibition)
2006: It’s been a long way, baby, curated by Magdalena Ujma, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland (solo exhibition)