"Selma Gürbüz: This Place We Call World" Exhibition Event

Online Conversation with Nilüfer Erdem on Remembering and the Animal Figures in Selma Gürbüz’s Works

Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 19.15

The conversation will be held in Turkish on Istanbul Modern's YouTube channel.

Psychoanalyst and writer Nilüfer Erdem will deliver a live talk on Istanbul Modern's YouTube channel as part of the "Selma Gürbüz: This Place We Call World" exhibition. In her talk, Nilüfer Erdem will focus on the experience of recalling, transforming and reconstructing subjectivity over and over again, which Selma Gürbüz invites the audience through the scenes in her works. Following the talk, Nilüfer Erdem will be in conversation with Öykü Özsoy, the curator of the exhibition.

The female figure at the center of Selma Gürbüz's paintings is often presented together with the animal figures that accompany her. From a psychoanalytic perspective, we get the impression that these animal figures represent both the “other” and parts of the self. These scenes with oneself and between oneself and the other bring to mind representations of the childhood world in which experiences that structure the individual's spirituality are lived. Psychoanalysis has shown that play in childhood, and art in adulthood are the areas where the most fundamental experiences that contribute to our subjectivities take place. In her talk, Nilüfer Erdem will evaluate the spiritually vital importance of creativity through Selma Gürbüz's works.

Psychoanalyst and writer Nilüfer Erdem is a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) and Psike Istanbul. She has published articles and translations on psychoanalysis, literature, art and cinema. She is the co-screenwriter of the film Mommy I’m Scared (dir. Reha Erdem). Erdem has written a short story book titled Big A (Büyük A, Nilüfer Güngörmüş, Everest Publications).

You can find the conversation link on this page on the day of the event.

Click here for "Selma Gürbüz: This Place We Call World" exhibition content.