Joining Door to Door: The Harem as a Space of Liberation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v18i2.255

Keywords:

harem, feminist art, contemporary art, toplumsal hareketler, video art, masculine art history, male-dominant society

Abstract

The article offers an analysis of Nil Yalter’s video The Harem through a feminist perspective. Nil Yalter was an artist active in the social activism of the 1960’s and one of the first artists to reflect the social changes of these movements in her artistic practice. The Harem, an example of post-constructivist feminist art, is a work which deconstructs history and art history through the mediums of video and body art. Formed by multiple sequences and perspectives, this work is also one of the first examples of video art. In the Harem, Nil Yalter uses video to subvert masculinist art history and body art to debase the patriarchal viewpoint of history. The article presents a detailed account of each sequence through this perspective.

References

Aliaga J.V. (2013). Ağırlık Merkezi: Nil Yalter’in 1970’ler ve 80’lerde Ürettiği Yapıtlarda Feminizm ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Perspektifi. İçinde, Nil Yalter, Istanbul: Galerist: 134- 179.
Berger J. (2009). Görme Biçimleri. Istanbul: Metis.
Butler J. (2010). Cinsiyet Belası. İstanbul: Metis.
Peirce L.P. (1998). Harem-i Hümayun: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Hükümranlık ve Kadınlar (Çev: Berktay A.). İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları
Tezkan M. (2009). Gerçekliğe Alternatif Bir Gerçeklik: Nil Yalter Videosu. Paris

Published

2017-10-10

How to Cite

Durmaz, N. (2017). Joining Door to Door: The Harem as a Space of Liberation. Kadın/Woman 2000, Journal for Women’s Studies, 18(2), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v18i2.255