From the Field

"From the Field" curated by fam° and funded by the British Council Creative Collaborations Grant, brings together four artists from Turkey and the UK and features multimedia works inspired by stories from the operational fields of non-governmental organizations Support to Life and Choose Love. The exhibition will open on 6 April at fam°s gallery in the Istanbul Design Museum. “The From the Field” exhibition aims to inspire its visitors with compassionate creativity by adopting a consciously slowed-down gaze when encountering the stories of others in our age, where speed and the limits imposed by geographical divisions rule our perception.

While Maya Kurdoğlu and Nurbanu Asena from fam° visualize the field stories shared by the UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Choose Love, Lena Yokoyama and Vicki Turner from the exhibition’s main partner, UK-based illustration agency Grand Matter, have transformed stories gathered from the field by Türkiye-based NGO, Support to Life into artworks.

Vicki Turner's canvas installation vividly portrays the aftermath of the earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye. Lena Yokoyama's illustrative sculpture celebrates the school as a sanctuary for girls, empowering them through self-discovery. On the gallery's lower floor, Maya Kurdoğlu's pieces explore the experiences of Syrian women in Lebanon, weaving together geographical cues and connections. Outside, Nurbanu Asena's augmented reality (AR) installation brings to life a bakery's heartening story, warmly welcoming Syrian refugees post-migration, all depicted in three dimensions.

Additionally, two public online session events are planned as part of the exhibition. The first session, to be held on 8 April, will be a session where the artists and exhibition partners come together to discuss the exhibition production process. The second session, to take place between fam° and Grand Matter on 24 April, will focus on the experiences of the two institutions regarding diversity and inclusion in the illustration sector.

Artists: Lena Yokoyama, Maya Kurdoğlu, Nurbanu Asena, Vicki Turner
The exhibition will be closed during Ramadan but can be visited every day except Mondays from 11:00 to 18:00, until April 27th.