Berksoy studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin from 1936 to 1939, and enjoyed a distinguished career as a visual artist and an opera singer. Spanning over six decades, the exhibition traces Berksoy’s continued connection with Berlin, and explores the intersection of her two passions, emphasising her unique, spontaneous, and bold approach to painting. It introduces central themes in Berksoy’s practice: the attachment to her painter mother Fatma Saime, the ideological ties with Turkish cultural figures like poet Nazim Hikmet, her iconic opera roles, and the places and events that defined her prolific career. With more than 80 paintings and works on paper, along with a wide array of archival documents, film clips, and sound recordings, the exhibition highlights Berksoy’s significant impact on the cultural landscape in Turkey and beyond.
The exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof is arranged along a series of clusters that act as operatic vignettes, where Berksoy’s figures appear like characters on a stage. They are presented alongside rare recordings of Berksoy from the 1930s until the early 2000s. The exhibition will travel to a second station at Istanbul Modern in 2026.
Read more about the exhibition on the Staatsliche Museen zu Berlin's website.