Hera Büyüktaşçıyan Channels Istanbul’s Haunted Histories

Hera Büyüktaşçıyan has opened a major solo exhibition, 'I Know You As Her', at Istanbul's Arter museum. The show features new and existing works, including sculptures, installations, and watercolors, that explore submerged histories and spectral presences within the city's urban fabric, particularly around the historic Pera district.

The exhibition matters as it exemplifies a significant trend in contemporary art where artists engage deeply with local memory, architecture, and trauma. Büyüktaşçıyan's poetic archaeology of Istanbul's layered past, from vanished minorities to erased waterways, offers a critical model for addressing historical erasure and the political weight of place, resonating far beyond Turkey's borders.