‘Performing Queer for the Turkish Military’ by Hakan Sinan Usta

Digital Photo Prints
59.4x42cm, 14.8x21cm, 14.8x21cm
2023–2024



Despite the fact that there is no law making homosexuality illegal in Turkey, openly gay individuals are prohibited from serving in the army. Those who are called for military service and are openly gay, are requested to prove their homosexuality for their forced exemption. The latest regulations under the military laws announced by the Turkish Army Forces suggest that, in order to detect Sexual Identity and Behaviour Disorder, a mental examination and psychometric evaluation must be performed in private. In this case, the only way to prove one’s homosexuality to the army is one’s behaviour and handwritten statements in private examinations by certified military psychiatry clinics.


The series is based on the artist’s own experience with the military from back in 2017. The texts are scans of what that he was asked to handwrite with given words for the Beier Sentence Completion Test (BSCT) to draw a certain and convincing image of himself as a gay man.


The book shows selected prints from the images he created within three weeks spent in a photo-studio to recreate this experience back in a personal, intimate process.


The Turkish army was collecting visual footage from gay men in question having sexual intercourse with other men, as evidence until about ten years ago.