I Will Be Here

Kezban Arca Batıbeki is known for her paintings that probe themes of female empowerment and conflict in pop culture imagery, through depictions of women as faceless or overtly sexualized, often in various states of undress. In Dark Red (2010), a group of women dressed only in underwear and brandishing knives wrestle each other against a backdrop of block color— to unsettling effect; in Woman in Red (2010) a glamorous woman in a sequined cocktail dress, knife in hand, chases another woman in heels down a flight of stairs. Both works comprise darkly comic scenes that reference narratives drawn from pulp films and detective stories. Arca Batıbeki’s artistic practice also includes photography, installation, and video work.