I have always been a creative child, and enjoyed visiting galleries and museums from a very young age in the different countries I have been lucky enough to have lived in. I am also interested in books and music and have discovered artists in those media who have grown to shape my personality. I have discovered artists from my own research and developed skills to question my art and how it fits into the world around me. When I started to draw seriously, I wanted to mimic artists I grew up with like Dubuffet, Warhol, Haring and Banksy, and become a graphic designer or pop artist, as I liked the boldness of style and colours. However, as I became more experimental, with the exploration of new media and greater understanding of what I wanted to say with my art, my art became more personal with more symbolism, confidence and character. I decided that studying fine art would offer more opportunities to develop my ideas in interesting ways and develop my skills to follow possible future careers such as graphic design, illustration or other creative roles, including styling.
As part of my IB Diploma I created an exhibition with the theme of Inspiration. This exhibition has 12 pieces (some presented in my application portfolio), each inspired by a different artist who I admire such as Kahlo, Hockney, and Aya Takano. Instead of recreating these artists‘ works, I took elements of their style and applied my own experiences, interests and beliefs into my pieces. As an example, one piece is inspired by Kahlo`s portrait Thinking of Death. In Kahlo‘s painting, she is surrounded by greenery to reflect the beauty of her culture and the world around her, and a skull and crossbones on her forehead reflects her existential boredom and questioning of life. In my painting,
I have reversed the themes reflected in Kahlo’s painting, and instead have grayness around me to represent a boring world, and I have flowers blooming out of my head to show the possibility for creativity to blossom, with my culture represented by a traditional Turkish necklace. My intention is to use these elements to express the same themes as Kahlo, pride in both my culture and creativity. Through artworks I have created, and extra-curricular art courses I have taken in Switzerland and the UK, I have learned about elements of art and principles of design which have helped me explore my understanding of art and techniques used. This has helped me develop analytical skills, making it more fun to appreciate artworks in galleries and museums and, when creating my own, allowing me to see from the perspective of the audience and what would be visually satisfying for them and for me.
My current art looks at three main themes of identity and my personal experience, which I hope relate to the audience:
- Feminism: what it is like to be a young woman in today‘s social and cultural
environment, particularly how much space a woman should take up without it
being “too much“ ? I see myself as a non-traditional woman with broad and
diverse interests, questioning how the world sees me. - Multiculturalism: I am a child of three cultures – British, Turkish, French – but have
had little chance to deeply connect with any of them, having lived in countries
other than those from my heritage. This confuses me, but makes me curious to
understand my own cultural identity. - Safety: as an avid supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, my hope is for any
audience member to feel safe, non threatened and curious by the exploration of
identity and inclusivity – feminism and multiculturalism – presented through my
work.
I think that I would be suitable for the fine art course as I have the passion to learn about great artists, researching them, their techniques and how they perceive and respond to the world. I want to study fine art as I believe it will help me further develop my skills and technique allowing me to better understand and process my thoughts and feelings, and communicate the stories I want to tell.
