Aysegul Sarigul was born in 1992 in Ankara. In 2017, she graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture. Between 2017-2019, she worked in the sales operations of a world-renowned technology company in Athens, Greece. In 2019, Sarigul moved to Urla, İzmir, where she still resides, to work at Ekinakis Artworks. She worked as an executive assistant at Ekinakis Artworks. Between 2021-2023, she worked in the field of artist relations at Gru Art Gallery in Urla, İzmir. Sarigul curated a group exhibition named Döngü at Gru Art Gallery in 2022. She has been continuing her work at Gru Art Gallery as a gallery director since March 2023. She is in the process of developing new curatorial projects.
Simone de Beauvoir's striking sentence provokes questioning of what is sacrificed. It allows the individual to imagine the tedious state of being trapped within the shell they have constructed with their own hands, presenting it before their eyes as if it were an object. Life, when experienced without meaning, merely as a collection of past moments, resembles the shell analogy of Beauvoir—an individual constructing and confining themselves within it, inhibiting their self-realization. The comfort zone, as defined by Judith Bardwick in her 1991 book "Danger in The Comfort Zone," is a behavioral state in which an individual acts without anxiety. While the words and definitions comprising the concept of a comfort zone evoke a sense of safety, they also imply a potentially dangerous state of numbness. The comfort zone refers to a familiar space composed of routines, norms, and patterns in which a person chooses to reside—a shell they create to protect or separate themselves from the outside world. While "real life" flows with boundless possibilities beyond this shell, why do individuals choose to confine themselves within it? Because the infinite—the boundless freedom, power, and existence—can be intimidating.
In order to comprehend and give meaning to life and things, individuals require boundaries and therefore seek ways to frame their existence. Consequently, they find themselves settled within the confines of these boundaries. When one cannot determine the limits of something, excitement, and anxiety arise together. According to Kierkegaard, anxiety is a feeling inherent to our existential state. The emergence of anxiety, intrinsic to our existence, is triggered by the unknown of the infinite. Humans tend to avoid anxiety in order to maintain a sense of security. However, contemporary psychological research emphasizes the importance and necessity of an optimal level of anxiety for individual development. The effort to evade anxiety can further solidify a newly formed shell, sharpening its boundaries. This unintentionally leads to being trapped by the shell without even realizing it. As a constantly growing and evolving being, humans can feel stifled within this shell, experiencing the anguish of being unable to self-actualize within this confined space. However, the instinct to add meaning and value to one's life stems from our existence. Existence is an authentic state of self-realization. In other words, existence is an undefined state.
The group exhibition titled "Shell" explores the process of self-realization for individuals, just as a caterpillar emerges from its cocoon as a butterfly. It investigates the formation of the shell, the maturation phase experienced within it, and the process of emerging from the shell as three main stages. The exhibition delves into the self-created shell as a human-designed structure and establishes a connection between the individual's timing of breaking free from the shell, unleashing their potential into the world of possibilities, and their quest for meaning in their existence.
The exhibition brings together the works of Ahmet Duru, Candan İşcan, Elçin Acun, İbrahim Karakütük, Phoebe Cummings, Mehtap Baydu, Tutku Bulutbeyaz, Yaşam Şaşmazer, and Yuki Matsueda. The ground floor of the exhibition space showcases artworks that offer different perspectives on the surrender created by being inside the shell during the formation stage. As visitors ascend to the first floor, they encounter artworks that provoke contemplation of the process of emerging from the shell. Mehtap Baydu's artwork, "The Distance Between Me and Everything," centrally positioned on the first floor, metaphorically depicts the separation from the shell, providing a hint of the last part of the exhibition where the process of liberation from anxiety can be experienced.