larissa.araz@gmail.com
+90 532 724 24 33
Larissa Araz (Istanbul, 1990) is an artist and founder of Poşe artist-run space in Istanbul, Turkey. She studied Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, NY, USA and Visual Arts at Koç University in Istanbul, TR. She was a recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Award in 2021. She participated in Saha Studio residency from 2019-2020, Arter Research Program in 2020-2021, WHW Akademija in Zagreb in 2023 and the Cite Des Arts Residency in Paris in 2023 and the Onassis Artist Residency in Athens in 2024.
Araz focuses on alternative histories, non-human witnesses, and the construction of dominant ideologies through institutional knowledge production. Through personal narratives, she researches documents, archives, ruins, silences, traces, and memories that are not included in, or kept hidden from social memory. Between reality and fiction, she tries to discuss possible futures and unrevealed pasts. She uses different mediums in her practice but mainly focuses on text and image-making.
She is also the other half of palimpsest (with author Ekin Can Göksoy) which departs from the ancient belief that nothing is as it seems. With an approach far surpassing the modern conceptualization of the archive, where historical records are brought together and classified. palimpsest attempts to create an archive of the annotations on the margins of manuscripts, the decorations crumbling from the walls of buildings, the written messages behind found photographs, and the testimony of what is no longer there.
Araz founded Poşe Artist Run Space in April 2018. Poşe is conceived with an urge to establish a community. It is a physical and mental open-space for those who feel the need for dialogue and critique. Poşe has displayed many exhibitions including solo and group productions along with public programming and other content.
For more information: pose-hello.com
Education
2014 Koç University, Media and Visual Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 NYU, Steinhardt Media, Communication and Culture, New York, USA
Solo Exhibitions
2024, In Hoc Signo Vinces, Istanbul, TR
2023, Semi-Fiction, Büro Sarıgedik, Istanbul, TR
2021, East & West, Krank Art Gallery, Istanbul, TR
2020, Begin To See Through The Darkness, Bilsart, Istanbul, TR
2020, Words Don’t Come Easy, Öktem Aykut Gallery, Istanbul,TR
2020, Words Don’t Come Easy, Dreiviertel Art Space, Bern, CH
2018, Chance For a Miracle, Poşe Art Space, Istanbul,TR
Selected Group Exhibitions and Features
2024 Resident Soils (curator: Yasemin Ülgen), Eldem Art Space, Dalyancı Mansion, Eskişehir, Turkey
2024 Constellations Exploding Anew (curator: Eva Vaslamatzi), Tavaniotis Mansion in Maroneia, Rhodope, Greece
2024 Circular 5 (curator: Yasemin Ülgen), D5 Sanat Ortamı, Mersin, Turkey
2024 The Hunter of Thyself (curator: Oğuz Karakütük), Versus Art Project, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 Reveries, Truths (curator: Melike Bayık), Casa Botter Art and Design Center, Istanbul, Turkey
2023, I Heard It Them Singing in the Mountains, (Curated by Eva Vaslamatzi), Stoa Kairi, Athens, Greece
2023, Observatory, On Deculturalisation. Chapter 1, (Curated by Zaira Oram), oxyd - Kunsträume, Winterthur, Switzerland
2022, Life, Death, Love and Justice, (Curated by Didem Yazıcı, Peter Sit, Burcu Çimen), Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
2022, Reflections from the Women's Archives, Depo, Istanbul, TR
2021, Hassas Müdahale, Kıraaathane, Istanbul, TR
2019, Akbank Contemporary Art Prize Exhibition, Istanbul, TR
2018, Large Meadow, Ariel ,Istanbul, TR
2017, Survival Kit, Cultural Transit Foundation, Yekaterinburg, RU
2016, Young, Fresh, Different 7 , Gallery Zilberman, Istanbul, TR
2016 We are not dead yet!, Mamut Art 16, Küçük Çiftlik Park, Istanbul, TR
2013 Second Eye Women Photographers from Turkey, Sismanoglou Megaro , Istanbul, TR
Grants and Awards
2023, Artist Development Program, European Investment Bank
Workshops and Residencies
2025 Kulturakademie Tarabya, Istanbul, TR
2024, Tbilisi Photography Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
2023, Cite Internationales des Arts, Paris, FR
2020-2021 Arter Research Program, Arter Museum
2019-2020, Saha Studio Residency, Saha Foundation
2019, Qayyem, MASS Alexandria workshops by Bassam El Baroni, Binna Choi and Maria Berrios, Alexandria, Eygpt
2018, Articulating Research, Ben Eastham, Aslı Seven, Merve Ünsal (M-est), Salt
2017, Tony Chakar and Marwa Arsanios’ “In Seeking Incuriously” Workshop, Salzburg Summer Art Academy
Selected Press, Publications, and Interviews
Hyperallergic- Larissa Araz Unearths Turkey’s Hidden Pasts by Jennifer Hattam, (ENG), 2024
Lensscratch - ARTISTS OF TÜRKIYE: LARISSA ARAZ by Mehveş Lelic (ENG), 2024
Argonotlar - Larissa Araz ile “In Hoc Signo Vinces” üzerine, interview by Abdullah Ezik, (TR), 2024
SanatAtak - Interview with Can Memiş , (TR) 2024
Milliyet Sanat - ‘Dil mağarası’nın oluşturduğu hafıza’ review by Seray Şahinler, (TR), 2024
AGOS - Review by Hanriet Basoğlu, Agos, Turkey, 2023
Çatlak Zemin - Interview (TR), 2022
Re: [aap_2020] - The publication Re: [aap_2020], produced as part of the 2020–2021 edition of the Arter Research Programme, includes the research-led contributions of Kerem Altaylar, Eylem Ejder, Nejbir Erkol, Alev Ersan, Furkan Öztekin, palimpsest (Larissa Araz & Ekin Can Göksoy), Rojda Tuğrul and Aslı Uludağ, as well as collaborative texts produced in the context of the programme. (ENG &TR), 2021
ArteEast- Interview (ENG), 2021
ArtForum - Review of Kaya Genç (ENG), 2021
Art Unlimited - Interview with Selin Çiftçi (TR), 2021
Daily Sabah - Review Matt Hanson (ENG), 2020
Diken - Interview with Gülben Çapan (TR), 2020
Art Unlimited - Interview with Necmi Sönmez (TR), 2020
Border_less - An article on Füsun Onur’s “Chamber Music” exhibition written by the artist (TR), 2020
Masallah News - About the photography series “We are Not Dead Yet” written by the artist (ENG), 2016
Istanbul Art News - Interview with Serra Yentürk (TR), 2016
Radio Talks
Stegi Radio-Radio (non-)Conference#2_Athens (ENG) 01.06.24
FOAM TALKS - Talk with Ece Gökalp (ENG) 13.09.2023
deutschlandfunkkultur - A review of the exhibition Life, Love, Death and Justice, (DE) 30.12. 2022
Açık Radyo - Talk about the show ”Reflections from Women’s Archives” with İlksen Mavituna (TR) 12.4.2022
Açık Radyo - Talk about the solo exhibition “Words Don’t Come Easy” with Çelenk Bafra (TR) 6.1.2020
Açık Radyo - Talk about Saha Studio Residency with Çelenk Bafra and the artists Sibel Horada, Alper Aydın, Özgür Demirci (TR) 14.2.2020
Reboot FM - Talk about Poşe Art Space and Poşe’s event Çilingir Sofrası (ENG) 7.7.2019
Collections
Istanbul Modern
European Investment Bank