Oncu Yasemin

De•monstra•tion: The Monster and the Demonization of Other

In this dissertation paper I aim to put in words what I artistically express in my thesis exhibition de-monstra-tion. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings and an installation imitating the national elections atmosphere in Turkey. It offers an artistic response to aggression and violence in different forms prevalent throughout the world. It does this by “demonstrating” how we can artistically criticize cruelties through re-politicizing politics in a manner as to neutralize all kinds of moral degradation associated with the demonization of other. I consider different connotations of the monster as expressed and elaborated in the literature to discuss how I use it as an artistic tool to humorously subvert moralized politics dominant in society and media. Then, I build my exhibition on neo-expressionism and graffiti with particular emphases on the works of Spero, Basquiat and Haring. Finally, I elaborate on how in my exhibition I used Artaud’s theatre of cruelty to re-politicize politics against the moralization of politics.