Upon a Rock, I Grew: Melike Abasıyanık Kurtiç, Deniz Aktaş, Ece Bal, Gökhun Baltacı, İlhan Berk, Zeynep Kayan, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Anıl Saldıran, Johanna Seidel, Elif Uras, Burcu Yağcıoğlu

Galerist and Galeri Nev present Upon a Rock, I Grew, an exhibition centred on the artistic practice of Melike Abasıyanık Kurtiç, opening on 15 January at Galerist, realised with the support of the Kale Design and Art Center (KTSM). Unfolding from the artist’s retrospective exhibition Memoirs of a Sea Urchin, held at the Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum in 2024, the exhibition brings together Abasıyanık Kurtiç’s works with those of national and international artists whose practices resonate with her modes of thinking, understanding of form, and relationship with material. While Memoirs of a Sea Urchin approached the artist’s practice as a layered field of inward intensity, Upon a Rock, I Grew explores how forms and conceptual trajectories extending from this universe find echoes within the practices of other artists. Within this framework, a selection of works by Melike Abasıyanık Kurtiç is presented alongside those of Deniz Aktaş, Ece Bal, Gökhun Baltacı, İlhan Berk, Zeynep Kayan, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Anıl Saldıran, Johanna Seidel, Elif Uras, and Burcu Yağcıoğlu.