Cihan Çakmak's First Italian Solo Show in Palermo Explores Kurdish Diaspora and Trauma

German-Kurdish multimedia artist Cihan Çakmak (b. 1993, Osterholz-Scharmbeck) presents her first Italian solo exhibition in Palermo, addressing transgenerational trauma, stigma, and self-determination within the Kurdish diaspora. The show features works from ongoing series including 'Not Me Not You / The Opposite Is Connection' (2024), 'Drawings' (2019), 'When We Leave' (2018), and 'Where I left you / My sister and I' (2023). Çakmak uses photography, video, and drawing to explore psychological states such as vulnerability, concealment, and isolation as responses to trauma. Her work moves beyond individual biography to examine collective patterns in exiled communities. The exhibition includes a two-channel video installation with a voiceover 'letter to the mother' and a text by the artist. Curated with reference to Susan Sontag and Maria Giulia Dondero, the show uses indeterminate contexts to invite projection of subjective emotions. Palermo was chosen as the host city, opening new perspectives on stigma and cultural legacies.