Exhibition Portfolio

What Now?

Ortaokulda “Homeless Bird” diye bir çocuk gelinin hikayesini anlatan bir roman okuduktan sonra hayatımın bir noktasında çocuk gelinler için bir sığınak açmak istediğimin kararına varmıştım. Bu sergiyi kafamda düşünürken de bu duygularımı sadece lafta bırakmamak için bağış yapmak istiyordum. Karşıma Mor Çatı çıktı. Yaptıkları projelere bakarken çocuk gelinleri kanatlarının altına aldıklarını gördüm, destek olmak çok istedim.

Sevgili dostlarım, sayenizde hiç mümkün olmayacağını düşündüğüm bu sergide 30.000 TL civarı bağış biriktirebildim. Hepinize geldiğiniz ve ilk sergimde bana destek olduğunuz için çok teşekkür ediyorum. Hayatımın en güzel deneyiminde bana eşlik ettiniz. Bu sergiyi de atlattıysak… What Now?

After reading a book telling the story of a child bride named Homeless Bird in middle school, I decided that at some point in my life I wanted to open a shelter for child brides. While planning for this exhibition, I wanted it to be a fundraiser because I did not want to just be criticising without taking action. This was when I came across Mor Çatı. Mor Çatı is an organisation that seeks to help women who seek for guidance and help. While looking at their projects, I saw that they were also helping child brides so I was highly excited to be able to support them. Yet, I never thought I could be able to support them this much. Dear friends, thanks to you, I was able to save around 30.000 TL during this exhibition. I thank you all for coming and supporting me in my first exhibition. You accompanied me in the most beautiful experience of my life. I am very excited to see all of you in the continuation of my projects. So…….What Now?

Now What?

Ants on a Picnic Blanket The piece consists of dark human silhouettes painted on picnic blankets which are attached on Oscar-Claude Monet’s “Parc Monceau” (1876). The background is full of elegance and prosperity; Monet’s air of wealth is used as a direct contrast against the ant-like human figures. The piece directly reflects the current immigration and refugee crisis.

Project TnT On top of the tents are the political and social leaders who have left us the public in the dark. From right to left the figures are Jair Bolsanaro, who has indirectly allowed the Amazon rain forest fires, Pol Pots who conducted the Cambodian genocide, and Darren Woods The CEO of the company Exxon who has had valuable information regarding the effects of fossil fuel's on the environment. These people have hid information from the public and have caused extreme detriments in both political and environmental areas.

Text

Schema Schemas are the preconceived notions within one’s subconscious mind. The way this concept is established within one’s mind is the basis for the polarization experienced in the world today.

The wall is an allusion to schemas’ the cognitive “wall” that processes information. The holes at the bottom of the wall are inclusive of all colors whereas towards the top one can only see singular colors. The journey from the bottom of the piece to the top is a replication of growth.

Growing up limits the child to one ideology, one identity, one form of representation hence one color. Once they grow up, they can only see the painting as either blue, yellow, or red, and fight over which one is correct unable to look at the whole picture.

Türkiye In this piece depict the current religious circumstances in Turkey. With the similar patterns repeating, this piece illustrates the different religious opinions Turkey has within it that often splits the country into two polar opposites.

Ostrich The piece is a reference for the ignorance in the world. Ostriches are known to dig their heads in the ground to hide from their predators. However, it is this action that causes ostriches to become prey. This is in a way the course of action experienced in the world today. Ignoring climate change, ignoring gender equity, ignoring human rights, ignoring all aspects of truth human ingenuity has proven to us. Written in brail, “if I can’t see it, it doesn't exist” and “let’s all play the ostrich game” are the epitome of the human understanding of the world. In parallel to the ostrich, it is human’s tendency to dig their heads to the ground in times of risk that will cause them to become extinct. The piece depicts a human figure closing its eyes to ignore the piles of “trash“ in front of him. This is reference to the climate action currently in motion.

Bezos

Kibrit Many forests are being cut down, burned, or destroyed knowingly. People, countries, and firms are ignoring the importance of forests in order to improve their economic prosperity. The red baby heads on top of the matches represent the egomaniac and ignorant behavior that can be seen in the world today.

Text SIT SIT stands for the Social Identity Theory in Psychology. The numbers on the painting are from the matrixes used by psychologists to test their theories. have a tendency to be in the “Competitive Mode” where they only want to be better relative to others even though that might mean having less for themselves. I believe this is the main reason behind the problems in politics. Leaders cannot escape from the competitive mode towards a greater good. They only want to be better than the other counties.

Designer Passports

The Uterus Vote The piece depicts distorted images of the 12 male congressman who voted against abortion in Alabama. They were the only people who got to vote on an issue concerning women. This is why I collaged it with a scene from the popular TV Show Friends saying “No uterus, no opinion”

Çöp Adam The piece is based on my personal experience with education. Composed of worksheets given in the span of a semester, it aims to highlight how the education system is failing students, especially in Turkey where unemployment is at its peak.

Materials that are regarded as useful and necessary end up used for “arts and crafts” which the traditional education system most often undermines. Through this, I aim to bring attention from to the amount of waste and exploitation present within the education system. From SAT’s to Ivy League universities education is an industry, worth around 1,335 billion dollars. Not only is it based on socioeconomic inequality and discrimination; education is battling the ultimate irony of being a human right that is withheld as a privilege. These concepts are illustrated through the artist’s use of spilled paint, which symbolizes both the lack of control students experience within the system and the waste the education system produces.

Breathe This piece is a photograph I took during my summer in a village in Africa. I took sentences from the diary I kept during my time there which reflected my thoughts and hid them in the image

Kubbe

This project was up to the audience’s interpretation. I just wanted to put the relationship of the act of believing and the act of seeing to test. I hung the dome of a mosque from the ceiling as I believe religion is not based on solid grounds. Some suggested that the dome limits the sight of the eye as it covers it. I really liked that interpretation.