In Fulya Çetin’s painting, the circumcision ceremony becomes a scene where family memory intersects with the social construction of masculinity. The child’s elaborate attire and the adult figure’s hand resting on his shoulder suggest both belonging and the passing on of a role.

With the faces erased, the portrait moves away from identifying individuals; ceremonial dress and the arrangement of bodies take the place of identity. Against the worn surface, two figures remain, bearing less the traces of who they are than the expectations of what they are to become.