PAY HERE

The audience & the subject, the exhibitionist & the voyeur, the sadist & the masochist are the most crucial polarisations that can be defined in the woman – man relationship axis. The tension created by this power relation between the genders was what initially promted Gözde Türkkan to an inner search to reconcile her own sexual role and identity.

“Pay Here” is the title of Türkkan’s project on gender politics, which she finds appealing as much as it is compelling, acknowledging that it is only partially true to establish the sides as subject: woman & viewer: man. Photographs taking place in the series represent the slim in-between gap where Türkkan can face her inner conflicts and make peace with her gender role. The artists describes this in-between area as: “The pole-dancing photographs especially provide this because they are carried out in a venue that is outside expectations/stereotypes. In addition, the women who are aware of the objectification that comes with the dance, neither exploit it aggressively nor let themselves be exploited.”

Türkkan’s approach, aims to break the common beliefs and perspectives without asserting that the point of view in this series is the only truth. The artists thinks that it is a complex situation and one view point cannot explain the whole.