Born in 1981 in Konya, Aslı Torcu graduated from the Painting Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and continued her studies in France.
In the painting, Circumcision Feast, she uses a photograph from the family album of a friend showing a circumcision celebration in the 1960s as her starting point. Torcu shows the “oddity” of the ceremony and probes the complex relationships between the family members. A peculiar feature of the painting is a boy aiming a toy gun at his mother. In this diptych artwork that are linked together by the quilt covering the boy, both parts are somewhere “in between.” Although not a part of Torcu’s own reminiscences, this scene, painted on paper, has almost become her property and has taken on aspects of an “anonymous” image.
Painting
Mixed media on paper
Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Collection
Istanbul Museum of Modern Art / Long Term Loan