FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dara Katrina Del Rosario
Communications & Partnerships Manager
[email protected]


SOMArts’ Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through
Lullabies brings together international artists to examine childhood songs and stories

On View: Thursday, July 16–Sunday, August 22, 2021

June 17, 2021, San Francisco, CA–SOMArts Cultural Center is proud to announce the third and final exhibition of the 2020–2021 Curatorial Residency season. Curated by twin sisters Duygu and Bengü Gün, Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies launches with a free virtual reception on July 15, 6–8 PM PST and will be on view in SOMArts’ Main Gallery from July 16–August 22, 2021. The virtual gallery experience launches July 16 on SOMArts’ website.

Based in San Francisco and Istanbul respectively, curators Duygu and Bengü Gün were inspired by their family history with migration and interest in music as a connecting force. Sounds Like Home not only questions how cultural memory is preserved and transmitted through simple melodic messages from childhood, but also challenges the way lullabies, family stories and fairy tales transmit gender roles and cultural norms while affirming that culture is dynamic.

“Sounds Like Home creates a safe and comfortable space for people to recall their childhood memories and anchor back with their cultural roots while creating a bridge between cultures. Because, no matter where we come from and where we relive, the music instantly bonds us,” shares Duygu Gün.

This multidisciplinary exhibition features an international roster of artists from different fields of study and creative practice. By using found materials, Anastasia Georgievskaya’s Second Childhood project is historically and plastically connected with the birth of her child, with changes in her psyche, physiology and life mission. Güneş Terkol and İris Ergül both use fabric and woven materials to create large-scale installations that draw from personal stories, mythology, philosophy, and rituals.

Artwork credit: Rashin Fahandej, A Father’s Lullaby, 2019
photography courtesy of Aram Boggosian.

Sounds Like Home: The Lullaby Project Talk

Artwork credit: Zsudayka Terell, Bedtime Prayers, photography courtesy of Satra Nudara.

Photographer and National Geographic Explorer Hannah Reyes Morales’ Living Lullabies explores how global issues are reflected in children’s songs and bedtime stories around the world. Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell fuses traditional art forms passed through the diaspora to create work that speaks to the power of history and how visual art aids in defining culture and identity. Transdisciplinary artist Rashin Fahandej’s A Father’s Lullaby is an ongoing series that leverages personal memory to interrogate the structural violence of mass incarceration.

The exhibition launches with a free, all ages virtual opening reception on Thursday, July 15, 6–8 PM PST featuring a curator and artist panel and performances by award winning singers Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat, joined by Khatchadour Khatchadourian.

Conceived by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, The Lullaby Project Talk on Thursday, July 29, 6–7 PM PST features a virtual conversation between collaborators The Lullaby Project, Noe Music, and Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) as they discuss their efforts to support new parents experiencing housing insecurity and other challenging life situations.

By bringing together artists and researchers from around the world, Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies asks, “Is there a connection between lullabies across languages and cultures? How does the way we exchange these messages change over time?”

Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies

Exhibiting Artists
Anastasia Georgievskaya
Ceyda Oskay
Daniel Konhauser
Duygu Gün
Elena Mencarelli
Güneş Terkol
Hannah Reyes Morales
Husniya Khujamyorova
İris Ergül
Nooshin Hakim
Rashin Fahandej
Taro Hattori
Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell

Curators
Duygu Gün
Bengü Gün

Calendar Listings
Public programs are free and all ages unless otherwise stated

Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies
Exhibition run: Friday, July 16–Sunday, August 22, 2021
Virtual Gallery Experience launches: Friday, July 16, 2021
Curated by Duygu and Bengü Gün, Sounds Like Home generates conversations on identity and gender roles while exploring how lullabies are used as transmitters of cultural memory.

To learn more, visit: somarts.org/event/soundslikehome

Virtual Opening Reception
Thursday, July 15, 6–8 PM PST
The exhibition launches with a virtual opening reception that brings together Sounds Like Home curators and exhibiting artists in conversation followed by Lullaby Sessions with Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat and Khatchadour Khatchadourian.

To learn more, visit: somarts.org/event/soundslikehomeopening

Sounds Like Home: The Lullaby Project
Thursday, July 29, 6–7 PM PST
Conceived by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, this virtual talk features a panel with collaborators The Lullaby Project, Noe Music, and Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) to discuss their efforts to support new parents experiencing housing insecurity and other challenging life situations.

To learn more, visit: somarts.org/event/soundslikehometalk


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SPONSORS

Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies is sponsored by SAHA Association (Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey), UC Berkeley, The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), San Francisco State University, Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, UC Davis Department of Comparative Literature and Program in Middle East/South Asia Studies, Diaspora Arts Connection and Liz Cahill.

Sounds Like Home: Longing and Comfort through Lullabies is fiscally sponsored by SOMArts Cultural Center and part of 2020–2021 Curatorial Residency Program.

ABOUT SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER

SOMArts Cultural Center, founded in 1979, cultivates access to the arts within the Bay Area by collaborating with community-focused artists and organizations. Together, we engage the power of the arts to provoke just and fair inclusion, cultural respect and civic participation.

SOMArts plays a vital role in the arts ecosystem by helping activate the arts citywide. We do this by providing space and production support for non-profit events, as well as fairs and festivals throughout the Bay Area, and offering a robust program of art exhibitions, classes, events and performances that are affordable and accessible to all. SOMArts’ exhibition programs receive critical support from the San Francisco Arts Commission and The San Francisco Foundation, and are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts.

SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan Street—between 8th and 9th—within 2 blocks of 101, I-80, Muni lines and bike paths.

For public information call 415-863-1414 or visit somarts.org. Stay connected by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.