Marina Papazyan is a writer and artist from Istanbul. They mostly work with video and sound, and write fiction and essays. They have been interested in how monstrousness and illness are represented and intersect, with vampirism and lycanthropy appearing as recurring motifs in their writing. Werewolves, vampires, and satyrs take on different roles in exploring queer genders and erotics, set against the contradictory legacies of (post-)Ottoman imperialism and the communities who resist its violence. Until recently, they were a program coordinator at Depo (2021–⁠2025) and helped run BAS Artists’ Book Collection (2020–⁠2025). They are currently an MFA candidate in Writing at Bard College.

b. 1996, Istanbul
[they/them]
marinapapazyan [at] tutamail [dot] com
 

Solo exhibitions

2023   Trou de loup [Kurt çukuru] = Trou de loup [Wolf hole], 5533, Istanbul
2021   Hemoglobinler & Karıncalar = Haemoglobins & Ants, poşe, Istanbul
 

Selected group exhibitions

2022   Su Akar Dilini Bulur = All water falls into language, Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi, Istanbul
2022   The Hauntologists, BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
2021   I heard it from the valleys, Haus N Athen, Athens
2021   Burası = This Place, Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat, Istanbul
2021   İstanbul’da Şifa Bulmak = Finding a Cure in Istanbul, Karşı Sanat — Yaklaşım Tüneli, Istanbul
2019   etten, kemikten = flesh and bone, Operation Room, Istanbul
 

Selected publications

2026   “Umudum hayal kırıklığına mı uğradı?” [Is my hope disappointed?], with Waseem Ahmad Siddiqui, K24
2025   “Yokluğuna İşaret Ediyor” [Signals Its Absence], Sanat Dünyamız 204
2025   “lubunşah,” Anlatı Gücü İttifakı: Sergi = Narrative Power Alliance: Exhibition, ed. Onur Karaoğlu and Alper Turan
2024   “Normalliğe ihanet etmek: Kırmızı çizgiler, büyük hapishane ve uzun aralık = Betraying normalcy: Red lines, the big prison, and the long middle,” K24
2023   “Zabel Yesayan, My Soul in Exile (1922),” Metropolis M Books
2023   “Kültür Sığınağına Yerleşmek” [Settling for the Culture Bunker], Sanat Dünyamız 192
2022   “yenilir bağırsak = edible guts,” Görmenin Kenarında = On the Edge of Seeing, by Sevil Tunaboylu
2022   “mâzîk,” mâzîk (Depo)
2022   “Beyoğlu’nun yeni failleri” [Beyoğlu’s new perpetrators], with Eda Hisarlıoğlu, 1+1 Express
2021   “Eşikte Vücut Bulmak: Canavarın Queer Etiği” [Embodied at the Threshold: The Queer Ethics of Monstrosity], Kaos GL 179
2021   “minör-K = minor-K,” Gökcisimleri Üzerine = On Celestial Bodies, ed. Kevser Güler and Süreyyya Evren (Arter)
2019   “Süt Terlerken = Sweating Milk,” Abstract Lies (Chapter 1), ed. Huo Rf and Abdi Cadani
 

Selected reviews and interviews

2024   Merve Şen, “Care as a Living Terrain in My Body,” Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal
2023   Merve Ünsal, “Marina Papazyan ile vızıltılar, nefes alışlar ve musallat olanlar üzerine,” Gaipten Sesler, Açık Radyo
2023   Merve Şen, “Sevgili Şimdi, Bedenimde Bir Aradalık Var,” Cogito 109
2021   Kevser Güler, “Vampir ve hayaletler arasında: Hemoglobinler & Karıncalar,” Argonotlar
 

Fellowships

09.21 – 06.22   Fellowship for Situated Practice, BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Istanbul — Jakarta — Utrecht
10.18 – 06.19   Istanbul Biennial Production and Research Programme, İKSV – Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Istanbul
 

Links

Naming the unnamed: The Hauntologists at BAK | Metropolis M
Su Akar Dilini Bulur / All Water Falls into Language | Açık Radyo
In Between Seances | BAK – basis voor actuele kunst
Bir gece bahçesi deneyi: mâzîk | Açık Radyo
Η σύγχρονη τέχνη έχει περισσότερα κοινά με τη λαογραφία απ’ ότι νομίζουμε | αθηνόραμα
Bedenin coğrafyası | unlimited
Bedenlere inanır mısınız? | 1+1 Express