Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz was prepared under the collective curation of young people aged 18-25. For this exhibition, these youth reflected on issues affecting their quality of life, explored advocacy methods to transform these challenges, and created the Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz exhibition.
The exhibition brings advocacy and art together and offers interactive spaces to share rights-based struggles.
Six Sections and Their Curators
The Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz exhibition is composed of six sections that connect individual experiences with events in Turkey and the world. The sections and their curators are as follows:
Beyond Four Walls (Arzu Anğay and Aydanur Akkut)
One Step – A Thousand Voices (Eylül Devrim and Luna Erguvan)
Resisting Through Music (Deniz Doğan)
#DeBeje (Ecenur Alan and Halide Berçem Özçelik)
For Those Who Return, For Those Who Don’t (İbrahim E. Sarı, İrem Uçar, İrem Yağcı, Sevgi Çevik)
Rejecting a Human-Centered Planet (Derin Okur)
From Housing to Nature’s Rights – From Women’s Rights to Language Rights
Arzu Anğay and Aydanur Akkut, in their section titled Beyond Four Walls, advocate for the dignified housing rights of marginalized groups such as students, persons with disabilities, women+, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and migrants. Drawing from their own lives, they aim to touch the lives of others.
Eylül Devrim and Luna Erguvan, in their section titled One Step – A Thousand Voices, invite visitors to rediscover women’s struggle, resistance, and solidarity throughout history by exploring examples like March 8 and the history of women’s magazines.
Deniz Doğan, in the Resisting Through Music section, highlights stories of individual and collective resistance by women musicians who face discrimination based on gender identity and ethnic background, celebrating their fight through music.
Ecenur Alan and Halide Berçem Özçelik, in the section titled #DeBeje (#TellUsYourStory), exhibit experiences of discrimination due to native languages. They emphasize the importance of the free use of native languages and aim to let visitors experience the joy of self-expression in their native tongue.
The section For Those Who Return, For Those Who Don’t, prepared by İbrahim E. Sarı, İrem Uçar, İrem Yağcı, and Sevgi Çevik, is a tribute to the LGBTQIA+ movement. It reflects the experiences of four queer individuals in the LGBTQIA+ struggle and invites visitors to stand in solidarity against rising hate.
Derin Okur, in the section titled Rejecting a Human-Centered Planet, argues that nature should be preserved not through anthropocentric approaches but for its intrinsic value.
Stronger Together
In 2024, Istanbul Gender Museum collaborated with Istanbul Bilgi University’s Conflict Resolution Research and Application Center on a comprehensive project titled Learning Together – Acting Together, which took place between June and November. The Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz exhibition was initially created as a virtual exhibition during this project.
The Learning Together – Acting Together initiative supported creativity in advocacy work and involved 12 young participants from 8 cities through an open call. During the project, an advocacy handbook titled Change. Hope. Excitement. was also prepared and can be accessed for free on the Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz exhibition website.
Savunuculuk Günlüklerimiz Exhibition
Website: www.savunuculukgunluklerimiz.com
Exhibition Opening Registration Link: Zoom Registration
Press Contact: info@istanbulgendermuseum.org