Exhibition in central Ankara to highlight women’s rights

ANKARA

Artists from a variety of backgrounds will put together a light-installation exhibition in the capital focused on ending violence against women in Turkey.

The “Light the Dark” exhibition will take place at Seğmenler Park, one of the prominent public spaces in Ankara’s Çankaya district, on Nov. 25, which is also International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Organized by United Nations Women in collaboration with Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Çankaya Municipality and the Embassy of Sweden in Turkey, the exhibition will use lighting designs to draw attention to different forms of violence against women.

Curated by Ekin Kılınç and Fırat Engin, the exhibition will be open to visitors between Nov. 25 and Dec. 10.

Spread throughout Seğmenler Park, the lighting installations will draw attention to different forms of violence against women including physical violence, economic violence, femicides and domestic violence. Twelve well-known artists will carve a path at Seğmenler Park with 10 different installations, waiting for their visitors. Constructed with materials like conventional lightbulbs and neon, LED and spotlights, the exhibition blends harmoniously with the natural environment.

Hosting the works of Aykut Öz, Ece Kibaroğlu, Ecem Dilan Köse, Efe Alpay, Ekin Kılıç, Emre Okçuer, Erhan Tunalı, Esra Koruç, Fırat Engin, Hazal Ünsal, Oğuz Akın and Zeynep Üçöz, the exhibition will be the first open-air lighting installation exhibition to be displayed in a public space in Turkey.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Çankaya Mayor Alper Taşdelen, mayors of other districts, Swedish Ambassador Annika Molin Hellgren and U.N. Women Country Director Asya Varbanova will participate in the event.

Sixteen Days of Activism

Launched on the same day with the Light the Dark exhibition, “UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women – 16 Days of Activism” campaign this year draws attention to violence against women in public spaces.

Led by U.N. Women between Nov. 25 and Dec. 10 annually, “16 Days of Activism” this year focuses on safer and violence-free streets. Using fireflies that light the dark as its logo, the campaign invites men and women to mobilize against violence against women.

U.N. Women Turkey invites everyone to support the campaign with #fireflies and #lightthedark hashtags on social media throughout the 16 Days of Activism campaign.

Over 370 femicides in 2019

According to figures provided by Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu (We Will Stop Femicide Platform), which keeps a tally of femicides across the country, more than 370 women were killed by men in Turkey in 2019.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on March 6 said that 281 women were murdered in 2018 across Turkey, citing the report. The women’s platform, however, put last year’s number at 440.

The interior ministry and the NGO categorize femicides differently, accounting for the disparity in numbers, Soylu said.

Women’s rights organizations have been pushing for effective implementation of the Turkish Penal Code articles on violence against women and the preventive articles of the Istanbul Convention, officially known as the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence signed in 2011.