NT

I am interested in the juxtaposition of organic and geometric shapes and forms as an exploration of the immigrant identity. Morphing, layering, and revealing in order to express grief and displacement; to explore the implications of departure on one’s identity. I was always analytical and precise even as a child, being the oldest daughter of Turkish parents, yet becoming an immigrant at a young age had made me even more observant. I think the departure of my home is when I truly started to focus on the spaces around me; seeing the space surrounding the subject rather than the subject itself. My art began to abstract the human experience of immigration and their relation to spaces around them. Simultaneously, I realized I had begun to grieve the life I had lost with my art. The abstract spaces I depict in my work became memories of my childhood home, of bits and pieces I remember of my country, and feelings I have felt that made me who I am and still shape me to this day. Further in this practice, I started using reappearing imagery and symbolism in my art like mediterranean fruits, the moon, flowers, the stem, checkered patterns to develop my narrative. This narrative became a way in which to connect my artistic practice with myself, in the present, as a Turkish-immigrant artist. Today, I would define my art to be abstract portrayals of the feelings and memories of an immigrant, sometimes even self-portraits of growth and acceptance.