“I grew up in a magnificent 15-million-strong city—Istanbul—inside a cosmopolitan melting pot. My heritage is a blend of Eurasian, Byzantine, and Seljuk-Ottoman cultures. In a broad sense, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul bring together a mystical East and a pragmatic West. As a person of mixed cultures, I am fascinated by other cultures—as well as by my own—and it’s hardly surprising that with such variety I have a strong desire to learn even more about the unique diversity of the lives of cultures and people. In my works, this longing is precisely what drives me. I express it by combining visual elements with opposing qualities, thus creating harmony from dissonance.
A large part of my youth I lived in a controlled, enclosed environment, together with my parents and a few friends. Mostly, I was alone. My brightest memories from that time are the walks with my parents hand in hand through Istanbul’s famous bazaars. I was often both astonished and captivated by the sensuous mix of spectacles, scents, and sounds. This mystical world was far from my everyday life. Only after being away from my homeland and as time passed did I come to understand how much this dichotomy influenced the formation of my personality.”