Don’t I Look Turkish

Solo show
13.09.2019 -19.09.2019
Bold Space, Linienstrasse 221, Berlin

‘'Oh, but you don't look Turkish!'' - That's the reaction
I usually get when I tell people where I'm from.
At first I thought it might be a compliment, but over time I started thinking: Wait a minute, how am I supposed to look if I come from Turkey? Or if I am German?
A couple of months ago, I saw a meme on that topic:
''They say I don't look Turkish. Should I look like a Döner or what?''
Maybe I couldn't convey something that funny, but I wanted to communicate it in my own way, about all these stereoypes. So, I collaborated with BOLD Berlin and created a collection that asks a question upfront in hopes of starting a new conversation and spread the message to the streets: ''Don't I look Turkish?''
In doing so, we wanted to draw attention to discrimination and prejudices and we knew a lot of German friends face the same issue, and we created something for them as well, and this time they can ask : ''Don't I look German?''
We released these hoodies during my show and I cannot imagine a better city than Berlin to release them. A city that embraces everyone and every way of expressing themselves. However they look like, wherever they’re from.
Next to the collection, I showed an illustration series (ink on paper) of 15 called ''The brilliant questions I got asked because I'm Turkish.''
Funnily enough, I realised only a couple of days ago before my show that the whole show was comprised entirely of just questions: the question I ask upfront that gets ahead of the stereotype answers and all these questions I’ve been asked because I am Turkish.

And I have to admit, I find all these stereotypes quite funny. Aren't they?

https://www.jetzt.de/kultur/esra-guelmen-und-ihr-projekt-don-t-i-look-turkish
https://www.zeit.de/2019/39/identitaet-tuerkei-deutschland-vorurteil-migration
https://berlin030.de/tipp/dont-i-look-turkish-bold-space/2019-09-13/

Photos by Jonas Huckstorf