Anna Laudel is pleased to present “Silent Witnesses”, a new exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Tuğçe Diri, born out of her drawing-based practice, on view at its Bodrum gallery from 8 to 31 August 2025. Bringing together the visual heritage of the East and the West through a richly layered narrative, the exhibition offers powerful stories shaped at the intersection of history, memory, and power relations.
“Silent Witnesses”, which stems from Tuğçe Diri’s drawing-centred practice, reinterprets the symbolic meanings of silent figures in Eastern and Western art through a contemporary lens. Frequently focusing on concepts such as shared history, memory, tradition, universality, and craftsmanship in her works, the artist skilfully weaves these elements into this exhibition as well. By revealing the meanings of silence throughout history, the artist invites viewers to question and confront directly. This new body of work stands as a tribute to nature, innocence, and the suppressed.
“Silent Witnesses” approaches silence as a dual concept: the “not-so-innocent” silence of those who possess power yet choose not to speak, and the “suppressed witnesshood” of those whose voices go unheard and who are unable to express themselves. Through a range of imagery from praying human figures to animals unable to make a sound, Diri constructs a narrative that confronts the viewer with both the state of “silence in the face of power” and “not-so-innocent” witnesshood. Her narrative, shaped around history, memory, and power, transforms into a contemporary archive of bearing witness, where figurative and symbolic layers intertwine.
In this selection of works, the artist employs the “saz style” developed by 15th century court painters and the “kalem-i siyah” drawing technique, where brush contours define the overall composition. With this technique, Tuğçe Diri creates a layered narrative that reinterprets religious figures frequently encountered in Western painting. Through her distinctive visual language shaped by a sensitivity to two-dimensionality and depth, she offers a silent yet powerful testimony to today’s global issues.
The exhibition features approximately 10 new works that combine traditional and contemporary techniques, using a variety of materials such as graphite pencil, metal, acrylic, and oil paint. A limited number of lithograph prints created by the artist also enhance the visual diversity and technical richness of the exhibition.
With her piece “In Honor of Dürer”, part of the Silent Witnesses series, the artist offers a contemporary reference to Albrecht Dürer’s iconic “Praying Hands.’’ Through this form, Diri highlights current injustices while also underlining the enduring hope for goodness. The “Silent Witnesses” exhibition will be on view from 8 to 31 August 2025 at Anna Laudel Bodrum.