The group exhibition I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too?, which is inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus and their unrequited loves, opened at Meşher on September 14, 2022. Curated by Selen Ansen, this exhibition interprets the themes of reflection, resonance, and metamorphosis that are highlighted by the myth in light of contemporary artistic and social dynamics. I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too? features nearly 120 works by 44 artists from both Turkey and abroad, including works created for this exhibition with the support of the Vehbi Koç Foundation. The exhibition, which spans all three floors of Meşher’s exhibition space, will be open until February 12, 2023.

In her opening speech, Selen Ansen emphasised that the exhibition takes its cue from the concepts of metamorphosis and duality, which are pivotal in the myth of Echo and Narcissus. Ansen noted that instead of depicting this ancient narrative, I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too? is built upon the story’s remnants—what remains from Echo’s unrequited love for Narcissus and Narcissus’s unrequited love for his own reflection.

The exhibition title is a reference to the Emily Dickinson’s poem “I am nobody! Who are you?” The exhibition invites visitors to a sensitive space, where numerous yous, Is, desires, narratives, images, and experiences are intertwined. It adopts the circular and repetitive structure of the mythological narrative. Valuing the remnants of bygone lives, I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too? highlights at the same time the distances that are necessary for things remote, past, or foreign to reach out to us and graft themselves onto our lives.

The works on display actualise a space where the visible, the audible, and the tangible intersect, allowing for an experience of various forms of relationships between skin and voice, voice and shape, self and other, human and non-human beings, and material and immaterial phenomena. Connecting with actual issues related to reflection and illusion, it also presents artistic approaches to elements that have been associated throughout history with the body, appearance/disappearance, identity, and representation, such as faces, mirrors, shadows, and traces.

Artists: Marina Abramović, Erol Akyavaş, Dieter Appelt, Koray Ariş, Eylül Aslan, Levent Aygül, Mehtap Baydu, Deniz Bilgin, Handan B.rüte.ene, Elina Brotherus, Betty Bui, Claude Cahun, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Laurence Demaison, Lee Friedlander, Ryan Gander, Nan Goldin, Jessica Harrison, Camille Henrot, Charles Holland & Elly Ward, Talbot Hughes, John Isaacs, Fatoş İrwen, Gizem Karakaş, Nermin Kura, Marcantonio Raimondi Malerba, Bevis Martin & Charlie Youle, Radenko Milak, İz Öztat, İz & Ra, Evan Penny, Gerhard Richter, Necla Rüzgar, Stephanie Saade, Fabrice Samyn, Jenny Saville & Glen Luchford, Yusuf Sevinçli, Yaşam Şaşmazer, Ayça Telgeren, Defne Tesal, VOID.

A special book for the exhibition

The publication I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too? was conceived as an extension of the exhibition. This book elaborates on the exhibition’s pivotal themes, such as reflection, resonance, and self/other, by bridging the past and the present and bringing the mythological background of the exhibition into focus. Edited by the exhibition’s curator Selen Ansen and Meşher’s curators Ebru Esra Satıcı and Şeyda Çetin, it brings together numerous visual and textual sources, including some which have been translated into English for the first time, as well as two commissioned essays, one by Cana Bostan and one by Fatih Özgüven.