Who are you and what do you do? 

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I have been doing theatre design and mask design since I completed my bachelor's degree in theatre design in 2005. I have been the head of the Set Design Program at the university for three years.

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What inspires you to make art? 

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My artworks are political, social, cultural etc. takes a critical approach to issues. These works, which are basically characters of a dystopian world, try to signal how

 

 

 

 

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 While doing this, I use the mask, one of the basic forms of confrontation and human concreteness. Although it seems that different themes and styles are used in these masks, which we can consider as wearable art objects, their basic concepts and frameworks enable them to be included in a series. The main purpose of masks since their existence is that they are tools for understanding and telling the truth. Simply put, the productions' starting point are these words by Oscar Wild's ,

"The man is at least himself when he talks to his person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth."

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How & where have you spent Covid-19/lockdown?

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On November 5, the lockdown was announced temporarily. I returned to Istanbul, the city where I worked to spend this period. Time got longer and I couldn't return to London because flights were closed. Although it looks bad, I spent this period productively. I attended exhibitions on online platforms like this.

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What inconvenient, uncomfortable, awkward work spaces have you been forced to take up in order to make work over the past year?

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I could not do my main job, theatre design. Almost all over the world, theatres have been closed. The conditions of my second job of teaching, on the other hand, have changed. The training I gave was challenging for me to continue online. The mostly practical lessons were inadequate and difficult online.

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What things from the past year would you like to see retained after the pandemic?

 

I love being at home and working from home. It set me free. I believe that continuing to work from home in many sectors will positively affect the urban population. I don't want anything other than that from the pandemic period to continue. I thought the epidemic would unite people, but the opposite started to happen. Governments have begun to act more repressive and separatist. The most recent vaccination passport is an example.

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How has the pandemic affected your artistic practice, temporarily and permanently?

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The post-apocalyptic aesthetic, which is the theme of my masks, has begun to be experienced by the whole world. Now the mask has gained a different meaning for us. Nuclear, chemical, biological etc. I was dealing with man-made, artificial threats. Now along with these, the inner world, fears, fantasies, etc. I use the topics more consciously.

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And finally, what advice do you have for someone who's struggling to make art right now?