C.A.M. Gallery hosts “Self”, an exhibition by Sevim Sancaktar, from Sept 27th through Nov 3rd, 2012 .

Sancaktar brings together issues of identity, boundary, and “non-place” within the framework of belonging, and considers the fragile circle around these ebbs and tides. There is an implication in the work that humankind cannot truly “understand” but simply struggle with feelings and questions of identity and existence.

The artist examines her own family’s emigration from the Balkans while highlighting her studies on the problems of other Soviet citizens who immigrated to Latvia during the “Soviet Period”. Observations composed during her residency as a visiting artist in Riga are integral to these works. Sancaktar questions the transitions in identities and lives in terms of decisions about “leaving or staying” in the country by presenting two different storie; she emphasizes the different stories based on immigrations and moving within the current, changing regime. Problems of symbolism (when) based on photographs and documents generated in the past are also examined in the works.

In short, the exhibition examines a sense of “self” which has been changed/transformed over the course of time and the terms of invisibility which contribute to thinking about identity and misidentification.