Alaturka (2024) . Aligned (2024) . Gamma State (2024) .​ You Are My Sunshine and the Apple of My Eye (2024) . Tavaf (2024) . Alafranga (2023) . αI (2023) . βI (2023) . αVulva (2023) . βII (2023) . αIII (2023) . αIV (2023) . Vivarium (2022) . In Bed (2020) . Continuum (2019) . Singular (2018) .
Alafranga (London, 2023)
Clay, Glaze, Copper
H65xW54xD50cm

Alaturka explores the interplay of memory, tradition, and cultural transformation through a sculptural composition that brings together inherited and reimagined objects. Acting as a counterpart to Alafranga, this piece turns its gaze to the past by reflecting on the Turkish traditions and aesthetics that shaped the artist’s upbringing. It investigates the role of everyday objects whether bought, exchanged, or inherited in preserving and transforming cultural memory when carried forward into new contexts. This semi-functional sculpture reflects the aesthetics of a fading era inspired by 1990s Turkish interiors where the artist’s memories of carved furniture, handcrafted tapestries, lace doilies, and ornate chandeliers remain vivid symbols of a specific cultural identity.
The sculpture resembles a piece from a nesting table set known as a Zigon and carries a distinctly kitsch quality that sets it apart from the artist’s more abstract works. Crystal elements from the artist’s grandmother’s dismantled chandelier are repurposed as decorative pieces to evoke both the delicacy and weight of the past. The sculpture’s surface has been carved to perfectly hold one of her grandmother’s inherited handmade needlework pieces by embedding the intimate act of inherited craft across generations. The candelabra like legs reference a time when electricity shortages were common and bring an element of forgotten hardships and nostalgic warmth to the work. These elements carry layers of meaning in their new assembly where tradition and modernity both clash and merge.


Alaturka highlights the physical transformation of objects and the cultural shifts they signify. It captures the tension between familiarity and strangeness, permanence and impermanence, intimacy and adaptation. By reinterpreting these elements, the work bridges personal nostalgia with the shifting dynamics of globalization and modernity. Through this, the work embraces the oddness and richness of cultural inheritance by transforming personal memory into a tactile expression of change and continuity.

