Gözde İlkin

Gözde İlkin works on found domestic fabrics such as tablecloths, curtains, and bed sheets that are representative of social identity, and social processes and that have become objects of memory. Her motifs and drawings on fabrics depict today’s cultural information, political and social relationships, and gender issues. She traces nature to discover ways of belonging. Her forms that are inspired by nature track the healing and transforming effects through plants, animals, and humans drawn closer together.

Gözde İlkin (b.1981, Kütahya, Turkey) completed her BFA at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University painting department in 2004 and her MFA at Marmara University painting department in 2012.

Selected solo exhibitions include "The Eye of the Earth, The Mouth of the Ground", Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2022); "Entrusted Ground", .artSümer, Istanbul (2022); “As the Roots Spoke, the Cracks Deepen”, MAC VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris (2019); “Stand Alone and Altogether”, artSümer, Istanbul (2019); "Organized Habitation", Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris (2019); “Found Landscape”, Gypsum Gallery at Condo, New York (2018); “Absent Demonstration”, artSümer, İstanbul, (2017); “Reverie of Place, the French Institute”, Izmir (2017); “The Trap”, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2016); “Stained Estate”, Françoise Heitsch Gallery, Munich (2015), and “Please Clear the Dance Floor!”, artSümer, İstanbul (2010). Her works are included in private collections as well as public ones such as Arter (Vehbi Koç Foundation), OMM (Odunpazarı Modern Museum), Istanbul Modern, and Mac Val Contemporary Art Museum (Paris).

Selected group exhibitions include “Venedigsche Sterne”, (Curator: Susann Wintsch), Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur-Switzerland (2022); “Rooted Beings”, (Curators: Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz and Emily Sargent), Wellcome Collection, London (2022); "Womanhood and Sustainability" Project, (Curators: Carole Kambli, and Burçak Yakıcı), CerModern, Ankara and Barın Han, Istanbul (2022); “It’s Just A Phase”, (Curators: Rhea Dall and Elmgreen&Dragset), Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst, Trondheim, Norway (2022); “Don’t Look Back, Deep is the Past”, OMM, Eskişehir (2022); “Breaking Boundaries Project”, Istanbul, Maastricht, Castiglione Dei Pepoli, Venice, Amsterdam, Munich (2021-2022); “Lito Days-The Letter To A Friend”, (Organization: Dou Print Studio), Ka, Ankara (2021); “12th Survival Kit Festival”, (Curators: Övül Durmuşoğlu and Joanna Warsza), Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia (2021); “UnNatural History”, (Curator: Invisible Dust), Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, England (2021); “Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning", 13th Gwangju Biennial, (Curators: Defne Avas and Natasha Ginwala), South Korea (2021); “Up Above As A Fog, Down Below Was A Cloud Of Dust”, DEPO, Istanbul, (2020); “Gaia Has A Thousand Names”, (Curator: Tara Londi), Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, (2019); “Unspeakable Home, Enchanting Companions”, (Curator: Derya Bayrakoğlu), Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2019); “The Event of a Thread: Global Narratives in Textiles”, (Curators: Susanne Weiß, Inka Gressel and Öykü Özsoy), Istanbul Modern Museum, Istanbul (2019); “A Good Neighbour-On the Road”, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2017); “A Good Neighbour", 15th Istanbul Biennial (Curators: Elmgreen and Dragset), Pera Museum, Istanbul (2017); “Muscle Memory”, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin (2017); “Inverse Greyscale – Wider den Grautönen”, Galerieräume der Pasinger Fabrik, Munich (2016); “Zeigedeine Wunde 2016 / Teil 2 – Das Environment”, Maximilians Forum, Munich (2016); “Spaceliner”, (Curator: Barbara Heinrich), Arter, Istanbul, (2015); “Stay With Me”, Center for Artists’ Publications, Weserburg Museum Bremen (2015); “No One Belongs Here More Than You, ” (Curator: Red Min(e)d), 54th October Salon, Belgrade (2013); “Sublime Porte: Art and Contemporary Turkey”, (Curators: Parvez Mohsin and Yulia Tikhonova), Dr.M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery, New York (2013); “Journey Wanderings in Contemporary Turkey”, (Curator: Herve Mikaeloff), Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris (2012); “Dream and Reality”, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, (2011); “Istanbul Appraisal”, Pori Art Museum, Pori-Finland (2011); “Hyper Real: The Passion of the Real in Painting and Photography”, (Curators: Susanne Neuburger and Brigitte Franzen), MUMOK, Vienna (2010); “Cityscale”, (Curator: Françoise Heitsche), Lotringer 13, Munich (2010); “New Talents’ Biennale”, (Curator: Jochen Heufelder), DEG, Cologne (2010) and “Under My Feet I Want The World, Not Heaven in ‘Istanbul Next Wave’”, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2009).

She has participated in artist residency programs at the Water Mill Center, New York; IASPIS Konstnärsnämnden The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Stockholm; MAC VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris; Pioneer Works, New York; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, and Künstlerhaus Bremen. İlkin was part of the artist collective Atıl Kunst, between 2006 and 2013. She lives and works in Istanbul.