Seite - 105 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Band 4/2018

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 4 2o18 Lora Sariaslan | The Art of Migration 105 in artistic language, and taking the idea of mapping in its broadest sense, initiates a personal investigation into the limits and borders crossed, as well as the dangers and obstacles that await. A (possible) conclusion One must not see the hyphenated identities of European-Turkish, as a binary but on the op- posite as a composite, as a combination. What brings these artists together is the fact that they do not reject or erase their contexts, but instead, (they) are taking and using their background, feelings, experiences, and encounters as the source to create both an individual as well as artistic means to, not only, engage the viewer, but also, to challenge the doxa on a transnational level. Both migration and artistic praxis are far from a uniform or evenly shared experience. Hence, the trajectories of these artists involve not just a rethinking of the Turkish artscape, but also that of Europe, invoking a whole new transnational and transitional space within which the artist is both an observer and an author. These snapshots enable us to highlight the creative function of art as well as the potentialities and consequences of approaching art and migration from a variety of aesthetic frames of thought and modes of experience that interact with, challenge, contribute to or expand the perspectives on migration provided by sociological, political or historical discourses and analyses.23 What the theater scholar Azadeh Sharifi writes about European theater and players might be a relevant lens, as the focused visual artists help us “advocate a ‘post-migrant aesthetic’ that can help transform the exclusive self-conception of European art towards a more inclusive and manifold consistency.”24 These artists have ventured out of the confines of ‘assigned’ represen- tations and have allowed themselves to explore the ever-shifting topography of belonging and non-belonging. As a feature, or a quality of a world in which mobility is not the exception but becoming the standard, art is a method that these artists use to root themselves in various re- gions of Europe. Mobility is imperative to their endless pursuit of transformation and change. Point of departure is the observation that migratory experience cuts across and connects that, which is usually considered to be separate entities. The hyphenated artists that have been the focus, bring these qualities together. Their work convey the complex and stratified character of today’s society, and reflect a composite world, with fluid borders and broadened horizons, a world permeated by tension, but one that is culturally rich and fascinating. These artists re-ex- amine, reflect, and narrate multiple identities, geographical imaginations, and experiences as their work carries traces of diverse cultures, languages, codes, traditions, and challenges. Their artistic practice succeeds in generating a private and public recognition and invokes a new form of citizenship based on art – a citizenship that both defines a new identity, but also can be the basis for agency and life strategy. 23 Moslund et al., 10. 24 Moslund et al., 19.