I have vivid memories of being mesmerized by the details of the landscape on our family trips to the countryside in Turkey, in the early 70’s, and of paying full attention to the details of color, shape and pattern. Having grown up in Istanbul, with immense architectural details, I now find myself recreating the images I remember from my life in Turkey.

I was in my early 30’s and living in the United States when I realized that it was possible for me to pursue the excitement of making art. Sometimes I regretted that I had not studied art earlier in my life, but I also learned that “wisdom” comes to you only when you are ready. Time was not wasted. I had used these years to study life, to “see things” in the way that artists do, before I could explore them in my art.

Now, after fifteen years of separation, I am able to look at life in Turkey from a distance, and from many different perspectives. Traditions, values, religion, architecture, history, modernism. The dichotomies that exist in Turkish culture, particularly since the revolution in the early 1920’s, are all reflected in the work I do. They are part of me. I am a very modern and liberal woman, but traditional at the same time; I am Muslim and married to a Jewish man; I'm very closely attached to my family in Turkey, therefore to Istanbul, and return every year, yet still so far away from them for the last 15 years.

I'm extremely lucky to be able to bring both worlds, East and West, together in my life, and particularly excited to do so in making works of art. The modesty and simplicity which is at the base of Islam and Turkish culture is just as important to me as the freedom and self-growth that American culture provides. I have the pleasure of reflecting these two worlds in my art.
It's essential in my life to see what paint can do, how the colors mix, and how they layer in beautiful lines and forms, covering and revealing the visual dynamism of paint itself.

Today, when I walk along my favorite streets in Istanbul, as a painter, I am fulfilled knowing I can appropriate the walls and windows, stones and doors, and recreate them in my life.

With the simple power of texture and color, I honor, remember and share every moment I spend in Turkey. Through this, I blend my skills and knowledge with the paint’s own possibilities.