Conceptual Framework

Nilbar Güreş
A Kiss on the Eyes

The Türkiye Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia presents A Kiss on the Eyes by Nilbar Güreş. The exhibition brings together existing works and new productions spanning sculpture, installation, painting, video, and mixed-media works on paper and fabric. A Kiss on the Eyes takes its cue from the Turkish phrase Gözlerinizden öperim, a closing remark commonly used at the end of a letter. It expresses closeness without claiming it, warmth without intrusion. In this exhibition, the gesture is directed toward the viewer. The gaze is not treated as a tool of possession or control, but as a way of approaching, sensing, and acknowledging presence.

The exhibition unfolds through spatial relationships rather than a linear narrative. Works remain close to the ground, lean, hang, or hover. Instead of guiding the viewer from one work to the next, the exhibition invites them to slow down and become aware of their own bodily position in relation to the space and to others. Moving through the exhibition becomes a negotiation between distance and proximity, vulnerability and resistance.

Such an approach characterises Nilbar Güreş’s work across multiple media, drawing on lived experience to address questions of gender, migration, and belonging. Her practice is shaped by situations marked by displacement, racism, xenophobia, and discrimination based on religion and belief, not as distant subjects but as conditions that structure everyday life. She often focuses on moments where social norms and power relations become visible through bodies, relationships, and acts of looking.

Materials such as textiles, garments, domestic objects, and organic forms play a central role in her work. These materials carry personal and collective histories and are altered through gestures of care, humour, and resistance. Intimacy and political tension exist side by side, allowing vulnerability to appear without connotations of passivity.

Güreş is particularly attentive to how systems of value, desire, and entitlement shape bodies and relationships. As she notes: “It disgusts me when people think they deserve nothing but the best for themselves, because that always comes at the expense of others.” This ethical position runs through her work, challenging ideas of privilege, merit, success, and normalcy, and exposing the pressures they place on others.

A Kiss on the Eyes, echoing the Biennale’s theme In Minor Keys, embraces subtlety as a form of political strength by proposing ways of being together guided by care and opening up new perspectives through modest gestures and carefully crafted forms.