Artist Güler Ates visited us recently to use our Library as one of the locations for her Library Art Project, which aims to look at the relationship between women and libraries, and includes locations based in the UK and abroad.
My new works will explore female identity through the lens of my own experiences of crosscultural displacement in a context where many women are still denied or have limited access to a library. My model will be covered in swathes of brightly coloured lace or silk, reminiscent of a “veil”, and will be positioned against the backdrop of the esteemed Society of Antiquaries’s stacks of books. Through this project I want to open the discourse about the relationship between women and libraries. This juxtaposition of the old and the new, as well as the Western tendency to Middle Eastern exoticism and Victorian propriety are common themes in my art practice. The figure will comment on the power of knowledge amidst this historical bastion of scholarship and learning. – Güler Ates
We look forward to seeing her finished works. You can see other photos from this project on her website.