Fatma Bucak

2018-2019: Spring

1984. Lives and works between London and Istanbul.

Born in Turkey, Fatma Bucak studied Philosophy at Istanbul University and History of Art and Etching in Italy at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts, before completing her MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, London. Bucak's practices in performance, photography, sound, and video center on political identity, cultural and gender norms, and landscape as a space of historical renegotiation. Investigating the fragility, tension and irreversibility of history, the power of testimony and memory in her practice she often questions traditional forms of history-making.

Solo exhibitions include So as to find the strength to see, Merz Foundation, Torino and GAM - Galleria d'Arte Moderna Sant'Anna, Palermo, Italy; An obscure sentiment lurking at the edge of my conscious, Pi Artworks, Istanbul, Turkey, (2018); Damascus Rose, Harpe 45, Lausanne, Switzerland; Sticks and Stones, Pi Artworks London, UK (2017); And men turned their faces from there, Brown University David Winton Bell Gallery, USA; Suggested place for you to see it, Pori Art Museum, Finland (2016); Nothing is in its own place,Alberto Peola Gallery, Turin, Italy (2015); Over a line, darkly, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas, USA (2015); I must say a word about fear, Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy (2014); Yet an Other Story About the Fall, ARTER, Istanbul, Turkey (2013) and duo exhibitions include A Colossus on Clay Feet, The Italian Cultural Institute of New York (2019). Major group exhibitions and screenings include: Green Art Gallery, Dubai; Casa Victor Hugo, Havana (2018); GIBCA – Goteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art; Meeting Points 8: Both sides of the curtain – Mophradat, Beirut Art Center (2017); International Festival of Non- Fiction Film and Media, MoMA, New York, USA; Jewish Museum, NY, USA (2015); Art in General Screening Programme, NY (2014); Bloomberg New Contemporaries 13, ICA, London, Spike Island, Bristol, UK (2013) and 54th Venice Biennale - Tese di San Cristoforo, Italy (2011). Selected awards and art residencies include Premio New York – ISCP (2019); La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2017); Artpace San Antonio, Texas (2015); Townhouse International Art Residency, Cairo (2014); Illy Present Future Award, Italy (2013). 

Portrait Credit: © N.Gokhan Yorganci

Selected works