Pi Artworks London is pleased to present Fatma Bucak’s first solo exhibition in the UK, Sticks and Stones, curated by Nat Muller.

“Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never break me,” hums the old nursery rhyme. Today, in an ever-polarising climate of assault on the press and free speech, words are increasingly used to break those who utter them. In Sticks and Stones Fatma Bucak addresses two of the most pertinent struggles of our times: for freedom of expression and freedom of movement. Through her photographs, videos and installations she shows how these two liberties are inextricably intertwined.

A fortnightly printing performance will accompany the work Black Ink (2016-ongoing) in-gallery on Saturday 4 & 18 November and a finissage on 21 November will bring the exhibition to a close with a ceremonial giving away of the living Damascus roses and an artist talk. More details to follow.

Fatma Bucak (London) has held solo exhibitions at Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin; Brown University David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence; ARTER, Istanbul; Harpe45, Lausanne; Artpace, San Antonio; Pori Museum and Alberto Peola Contemporary Art Gallery, Turin. Her work has also been exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale Tese di San Cristoforo – Arsenale; The Jewish Museum, New York; International Festival of Non-fiction Film, MoMA, New York; SALT, Istanbul; ICA, London; The RYDER Projects, London; Spike Island, Bristol; Contemporary Art Platform Gallery Space, Kuwait; Manifesta 9 – Collateral exhibition; La Permanente Museum, Milan; Fondazione Fotografia, Modena and Art in General, New York, among others. In 2013 she was the winner of the 13th Illy Present Future Prize, and was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries in the same year. She was artist-in‐residence at Townhouse, Cairo in 2014, Artpace San Antonio in 2015, Cité International des Arts in 2017, and went on to win the Academy Now London award. She received the Arter – Koc Foundation Contemporary Art Grant and UniCredit Project Grant in 2011. She also co- curated the Transition Project: live and video performance exhibition series at the Yapi Kredi Kultur Sanat, Istanbul together with Basak Senova. She is currently exhibiting her new work at the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA).

Nat Muller (Amsterdam) is an independent curator and critic. Her writing has been published in Bidoun, ArtAsiaPacific, Art Papers, Hyperallergic, Canvas, X-tra, The Majalla, Art Margins and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. She has also written numerous catalogue and monographic essays predominantly on artists from the Middle East. She served on the advisory committee of the Fund for Creative Industries (NL) from 2013-2016 and the Mondriaan Fund (NL) from 2010-2014 and now serves on Amsterdam’s municipal committee for artist studios and incubator spaces. Recent exhibition projects include Spectral Imprints for the Abraaj Group Art Prize in Dubai (2012), Adel Abidin’s solo exhibition I love to love..., Forum Box in Helsinki (2013); Customs Made: Quotidian Practices & Everyday Rituals, Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah (2014);This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam & American University of Beirut Gallery (2014/15); Minor Heroisms, Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul, and Sporting Chances, Pi Artworks London among others. For the past few years Nat has been a nominator for the Prix Pictet Award, the V&A Jameel Art Prize, the Visible Award and the Paul Huf Photography award, amongst other jury and nomination committees. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me,” hums the old nursery rhyme. Today, in an ever-polarising climate of assault on the press and free speech, words are increasingly used to