Seher Uysal (b. 1983) is an artist and researcher based in Istanbul, Turkey. She has a PhD in Fine Art from Kocaeli University since 2014. Inquiries into the everyday often shape her artistic practice and her works are primarily artistic research-based reflections on spatial, historical or cultural conditions. Aside from her artistic work, Seeher Uysal curates projects, writes and engages in discourses concerning alternative teaching practices within Turkish art educations.
Seher Uysal first came to Residence Botkyrka in 2017 for a short research visit and artist talk, organised by curator Abir Boukhari, AllArtNow. She was later invited in 2022 to participate in the exhibition Unfinished Histories, curated by Abir Boukhari and Anneli Bäckman.
Artist talk, Seher Uysal
Bullying History: Working with Archives, Fact, Fiction and Urban Legends
Botkyrka konsthall
24 May 2022
The artist talk Bullying histories.. will look into historic incidents, micro histories, oral narratives and archival material which were not really written in books or “official histories” but left an indelible mark in people’s minds. In Seher’s work, history is not only written by the victors but by the ordinary people, and it does not only repeat itself, but can sometimes be looped due to national sentiments, political agendas or just simple misunderstandings. It can be traced in the archives but is never fully analysed nor comprehended.
In the exhibition Unfinished Histories Seher’s video installation Loosely based on real events, 2018 retells the story of a legendary cold winter in 1954 that allegedly caused the Bosporus in Istanbul to freeze over, allowing people to walk across the strait. Here, the artist investigates how hearsay and rumours that were circulating at the time, still have an impact on memory and the understanding of a place today.
Seher Uysal, Loosely based on real events, Unfinished Stories, Botkyrka konsthall, 2018. Photo: Hanna Ukura
Seher Uysal’s residency and artist talk 2017 was a collaboration with AllArtNow and Kultivera A-I-R in Tranås. Residence Botkyrka is supported by Botkyrkabyggen.