Eldem Art Space | Mahzen presents Taha Düzler’s first solo exhibition, Digging Our Present, on view from June 14 to July 20, 2025.

The artist’s practice is built on narratives that oscillate between personal and collective memory. Old family photographs, people around him, or even unfamiliar faces gradually transform into his own images—each evolving into new characters, stories, and forms. At times, this transformation unfolds beyond the artist’s will, yet the reshaping of these stories becomes possible through his mediation. In doing so, both the traces he carries in his memory and the ways in which other people’s moments change over time become visible.

In Düzler’s work, his relationship with the image emerges as an intuitive form of storytelling. His own body and face—most familiar to him—cease to be recognizable and turn into parts of other narratives. This approach creates a new visual language where individual experience and collective memory intertwine.

The series Digging Our Present, featured in the exhibition, takes shape through the artist’s inspiration from songs. Each work materializes the emotions carried by these songs, intertwining them with personal stories. With a grotesque approach that highlights the estrangement of the familiar, Düzler transforms traditional ceramic forms, inviting viewers to rethink their relationship with what is customary. As familiar images are reconfigured with displaced meanings, the exhibition opens a space for the audience to trace both personal and shared memories.