Exhibitions
Hand to Hand — Process Gallery at Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts & Humanities, Indiana University Bloomington
Opening Reception: November 1, 4-6 PM // Artist Talk: December 6
Exhibition Runs: November 1, 2024 through January 10, 2025
Exhibition Statement:
A direct translation of the Turkish idiom “el ele,” this exhibition by artist Hale Ekinci reflects her focus on connection and community building during her artist residency. Through video, installation, ceramics, and a diverse range of mixed-media textile works-embroidery, textile design, photography, painting, crochet, and printmaking—Ekinci explores themes of touch, body language, intimacy (particularly in femme relationships), and the immigrant experience.
During her engaged residency at the Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts & Humanities, Ekinci conducted research at the archives of the Kinsey Institute and the IU Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. Inspired by her findings and the local landscape, particularly a sign discussing “immigrant species” on a hiking trail, she created patterned textiles using the IU Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design Fibers Department’s large-format fabric printers. These textiles serve as both canvas and backdrop for the exhibition.
The vibrant mixed-media works delve into the social organization of diverse cultures, merging Islamic ornamentation, local “immigrant” plants, and photo collages of cordial women, cross-dressers, and body gestures. As a new American citizen, Ekinci grapples with her roots in a collective culture while celebrating her individualistic tendencies. Through a femme-centric lens enriched with symbolic Ottoman patterns, such as the tulip and the carnation, as well as images of “immigrant” flora like garlic mustard, the works reveal the complexities of relationships, the interpretations of gestures, and humanity’s representation of the natural world. Photographs of individuals are transformed into intricate patterns intertwining with floral motifs, evolving the concept of the “individual” into the “collective”.
Ekinci is particularly drawn to the nurturing energy of femme spaces and the symbiotic nature of these communities as safe havens. Central to these gatherings are plants, food, conversation, and collective crafting, all woven into the exhibition. Through her work, Ekinci examines expressions of intimacy and the nuanced interpretations of closeness, focusing on female bonds—holding hands, fortune-telling, exchanging personal objects, and sharing amulets.
For (Y)Our Eyes Only — SooVAC, Minneapolis, MN
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 17th from 6-9 PM
Exhibition Runs: June 18 - July 16, 2023
https://www.soovac.org/for-y-oureyesonly-hale-ekinci
In Turkish, the words for “you” (sen) and “I” (ben) share common letters, and there are no gendered pronouns. Everything in the natural world is “o” in the third person, and you and I overlap intimately. This imprecise language, double-meaning words, and absurd sayings leave room for playful interpretation - misinterpretation of the world. How we mutually understand each other is contextualized by the cultures we belong to and the languages (both verbal and visual) we share. The works in For (Y)Our Eyes Only by Hale Ekinci are encoded textiles, circumventing power structures and creating a place of humor and beauty where the othered finds a place of connection. Ekinci yearns for the shared letters of ben, sen and, in that yearning, creates a new visual language where empowerment is disrupting systems and establishing new ones; there is strength in an inside joke.
Between you and I — Comfort Station, Chicago, IL
Exhibition Dates: December 3rd - 25th, 2022
https://comfortstationlogansquare.org/december-2022-hale-ekinci
Motif: Silent Language — University of Illinois Visual Arts Gallery, Springfield, IL
Exhibition Dates: Oct. 27 - Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022
CONTINUUM — Textile Center, Minneapolis
Textile Center. This special spring and summer exhibition showcases rising talent from across the country – featuring the work of Hale Ekinci, Clare Hu, Dong Kyu Kim, Na Chainkua Reindorf, SHENEQUA and welcoming Minnesota-based artists Kehayr Brown-Ransaw, Jocelyn Suzuka Figureoa, and Nicole Thomas. Special works made during mini-residencies by Alonzo Pantoja, Marcus Rothering, and Ceci Lewis will become part of the gallery exhibition in May, along with a work by Program Coordinator, Ivonne Yáñez.
When or If I Was There — Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
Exhibition by Hale Ekinci and Rachel De Cuba. https://www.tigerstrikesasteroid.com/tagged/whenorifiwasthere
Chicago Artists Coalition — Chicago, IL
“Body is Work” Exhibition by Hale Ekinci, Shir Ende, and Mayumi Lake. https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/events/the-body-is-work
Solo Exhibition — Pearl Conard Gallery, Mansfield, OH
“Written In Oya: Entangled Stories”. https://u.osu.edu/pcagallery/upcoming-exhibition/