The installation A New Year’s Eve is based on the video the artist recorded while fleeing from the police attack to the peace march in Diyarbakir on 30th December 2015. She was taken into custody along with 24 people and detained in the Diyarbakır Police Headquarters for five days. Because of the consequent trial process where the state prosecutor demanded 18 years of imprisonment, Öğrenci decided to migrate to Berlin.

When people took refuge in a shopping center, Kurdish people offered sugar to reduce the effects of teargas. This act of generosity is a symbol of the tactics of solidarity and resistance of the Kurdish community which help them to survive the continuous violence. The stitched-together paper tissues used by Öğrenci in her recent works are turned into a canvas bearing the image of the landscape, as a symbol of the collective mourning caused by the politics of violence in the region where the artist was born and raised. In the camera bag, which is part of the installation, the artist emphasizes the role of the camera as a witness by replacing it with booklets in which she tells the story of New Year's Eve.