Not Equal To [USA]

Aslı Çavuşoğlu examines the way in which cultural and historical facts are presented, transformed and interpreted by individuals. Working across diverse media, Çavuşoğlu often assumes the role of a translator, writer or facilitator in her conceptual projects in order to highlight the precarious and subjective nature of our shared histories.

Not Equal To [USA] addresses language as a mediating force. Handwritten in squid ink on eight framed sheets of restored paper, Çavuşoğlu combines pairs of words and phrases typeset in a simple, familiar font that hint at the ways in which language is often coded. Between each pair and at the centre of each is an equals sign, indicating a sense of equivalence between words that are charged with political weight and consequence. Yet the status of these apparent synonyms is ruptured by a seam that joins together the two sheets of paper comprising each work. Running diagonally from the bottom left to upper right corner of each work, this border translates the symbol into ‘not equal to’, and transforms the paper into a flag-like sign which highlights the process of repair and conservation involved in joining its torn sheets.

Aslı Çavuşoğlu was born in Istanbul in 1982 and continues to live and work in the city. She has exhibited solo shows at MASS MoCA, Massachusetts (2020), and The New Museum, New York (2018), as well as in group exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020) and Castello di Rivoli, Torino (2017 and 2019). Her work was included in both Manifesta 11, Zurich (2016), and Performa 11, New York (2011), and is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the British Museum, London, among others.