Gendering EU Politics Seminar 5

Gendering EU Politics Seminars: Direnişte Feminist Sanat: Türkiye’de Sanatın Estetiği, Yöntemleri ve Politiği [Feminist Art in Resistance, Aesthetics, Methods and Politics of Art in Turkey] in Turkish, 2 November 2023, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul (in person)

FEJUST Chair hosted two prominent scholars in feminist art, in order to expose students of FEJUST how feminist art can be tool to reveal epistemic injustices and how art and aesthetic can be used as a resistance to gender inequalities.

The FEJUST Chair recently hosted a significant event, in person, featuring two distinguished scholars in feminist art, Elif Dastarlı and F. Melis Cin. The purpose was to enlighten FEJUST students on the transformative potential of feminist art as a tool to unveil epistemic injustices and showcase how art and aesthetics can serve as resistance against gender inequalities.

Elif Dastarlı, an Art Historian/Critic affiliated with the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, Turkey, and F. Melis Cin, Senior Lecturer in Gender, Development, and Education at Lancaster University, UK, were the featured speakers.

The event delved into an interdisciplinary analysis of how artists engage with political and feminist movements, shaping a new direction in feminist art production. It explored the historical context of feminist art in Turkey, scrutinizing emerging artworks that carve alternative political spaces and challenge hegemonic masculinity. This insightful discussion underscored the pivotal role of feminist art in resisting epistemic injustices. The event was organised in the form of a book launch, presenting the findings of the book published by Routledge, entitled “Feminist Art in Resistance: Aesthetics, Methods and Politics of Art in Turkey”.  The book’s contribution expands beyond the understanding of feminism, acknowledging its complexity in navigating intersections between subjectivities, socio-political realms, and geography. It offers a detailed account of Turkish art and contributing to the sociological significance of aesthetics, particularly within feminist theory. It provides a clear perspective on how feminist voices manifest in contemporary art in Turkey. The book not only underscored the critical role of art as an outlet for women artists but also made a substantial contribution to the limited literature on women's histories in Turkey within the realm of art. This unique perspective resonates with the objectives of the Jean Monnet Chair on Feminist Epistemic Justice in the EU and Beyond, as it narrates the artifacts of feminist artists resisting epistemic injustices in Turkey, adding valuable insights to the construction of feminist epistemic justice in the EU and its periphery.