Diren Demir

Diren’s work seeks transformative solutions to the challenges posed by patriarchal and authoritarian regimes. Their installations and performances frequently deal with revelation and the body-power relationship as a site of conflict. Diren focuses on transformational activism, participatory practices, and developing new models of resistance in their artworks. Their work includes Queer themes, using their own body to challenge stereotypical gender positions and de-gender memories of place and the city by referring to LGBTIQ+ history in their articles, seminars, and workshops. In 2019, their compilation “A Night of June: A Biographical Analysis of the Stonewall Revolution” was published. In August 2022, their new poetry and illustration book “Hail to the Fallen” appeared in bookstores. Diren has curated more than 30 guerrilla exhibitions on streets and in rural areas, foregrounding the accessibility of art, as well as curating shows at places such as Akbank Art Center and Gazhane Museum, Istanbul. Now studying at Marmara University, Istanbul, Diren's works and projects have been exhibited in many countries, including Estonia, Turkey, Serbia, the Netherlands, Germany, and India.