Kağıt / Paper / Хартия

Meryem Bayram

6-27 June 2024
Opening: 6 June, 18:30 hrs. 

 “There must be a painting totally free of dependence on the figure-or object-which, like music, illustrates nothing, tells no story, and launches no myth. Such a painting would simply evoke the incommunicable kingdoms of the spirit, where dreams become thought, where line becomes existence”

Michel Seuphor

Meryem Bayram is a visual artist and scenographer of Turkish origin who lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. A recurring theme in her work is the duality of her origin. The objects, their history and functionality are an inspiration, but also an occasion to ask questions about her past. Each paper has its own memory. Over the years, Bayram has collected paper from the various countries she has lived in as an artist. The concept of memory is related to temporariness. Time has always played a leading role in her work; in Kağıt, it is a decisive element in the spread of oils on the surface of the paper, it activates the imprints left by sunlight, the adhesion between sheets of paper and adjacent surfaces, the diffusion of aromas. It is a capture not only of the passage of time itself, but also of the embodiment of the human body, life and experiences. The temporal dimensions in Meryem Bayram’s work approach the growth of trees, as their rings testify to the passage of time. The artist is there to explore her sensations born in contemplation. 

The sensuous qualities of a pile of packaging material discovered by the artist inspire her to question this rapidly produced material and find ways to give it back its own autonomous being. To seek its functionality imposed by local context and use. During her stay in Sofia in 2022, Meryem Bayram was captivated by the Credo Bonum Gallery and by the ceiling of the hall with the strict rhythm of the skylight, in particular. As a visual artist with a background in scenography, she develops her work in dialogue with space. The final touch, however, is in the hands of the audience, who are invited to respond through their body memory. 

During the opening of the Kağıt exhibition, Meryem Bayram will have a performance that will kick off the exhibition. 

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Meryem Bayram (b. 1981) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. She is a visual artist, scenographer and curator. In her work, the relationship between human behaviour and the built spatial environment occupies a central place. With wood, cardboard and rubber bands, she creates installations that trace and reshape the contours of physical space. By offering concrete encounters between body and material, she shapes and organises the tension between the visible and the invisible, the composed and the improvised, proliferating points of connection, while you constantly reinvent new obstacles.