Performance in the context of female identity in contemporary art in Turkey

Abstract

This research focuses on performances produced by female artists in Turkey within the context of female identity. The emergence of female identity and performance art in Turkey can be traced back to the postmodernist discourses that began to appear in the 1970s, in terms of both subject matter and application. The existence of women as an identity in art has been examined by female artists, especially within the framework of feminism and feminist art. Performance art, one of the production forms of contemporary art, has played a more active role in contemporary art in Turkey since the 1990s. This research will investigate which concepts female artists who choose performance as a form of artistic production have made visible in relation to female identity. Within the scope of this research, performances that reveal genderrelated codes and question the societal, cultural, political, and psychological background of female identity will be discussed.