2023, Video Installation, 48'34", Developed for LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster
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In her Trilogie "A Possible History" Ersen explores the question of how identity - both personal and shared national identity - is formed. In the first two parts, she searches of traces of cultural connections. The works concentrate on the narrative patterns that accompany the patriotic purpose of nation-building in Turkey. She reveals contradictions that do not result from non-linear narratives in favor of political interests.
In her third video, ‘A Possible History III: 23/23 Blaupause’, Esra Ersen examines the century that extends between the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and the present. Ersen is particularly interested in identity politics and the shaping of the republican form of government in Turkey. The artist thus addresses historical narratives and political power structures as well as deeply rooted stereotypes in everyday life. This also sheds light on other narratives that we know from the self-positioning of state structures: Esra Ersen takes a universal look at history, historical ruptures and the anchoring of individuals in a society.