The Yunus Emre Institute in London’s annual Turkish Community Art Exhibition is now truly embedded in the British Turkish community’s social calendar.
Now in its third year, the event is bigger than ever before, showcasing 88 art pieces from 51 artists, whittled down from “a great selection of over 140 artworks from over 70 artists.”
The variety of art and talent on display is incredible, straddling traditional and contemporary styles created by both amateur and professional artists that “speaks to all tastes”.
There are paintings, drawings, photos, film, marbling, ceramics, glass art, sculpture, paper quilling, metalwork, lino and screen printing, tezhip, calligraphy, and mixed media and art techniques.
This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the exhibition and its opening ceremony are all online on the Yunus Emre Institute’s website.
Click here to see the 3rd Turkish Community Art Exhibition
While it means we can’t quite appreciate the physical aesthetics of many of these stunning artworks, the exhibition will, however, be accessible to thousands more people, who can view them digitally from remote locations.
Simply scroll down to see the different artists, their background and their work. Click on an individual artwork to get a close-up picture, along with details of what it is and how it came to be.
The press statement from the jury who judged this year’s competition and made the final selection, thanked “all members of the Turkish Community in the United Kingdom who have presented their works for this exhibition”, while noting the significance of the art project during the pandemic:
“In a time of worldwide hardship, collective acts and efforts undertaking unifying and morale-boosting projects are very important.”
The online opening of the exhibition earlier this week was presided by Dr Mehmet Karakuş, Director of Yunus Emre Institute in London, and attended by the Turkish Ambassador to London Ümit Yalçın, Prof Şeref Ateş, the President of the Yunus Emre Institute, Bekir Utku Atahan, Turkey’s Consul General in London, as well as jury members Zeynep Iqbal, Nilay İşlek and Cevdet Akman.
The list of featured artists in this year’s exhibition, in alphabetical order, is as follows:, Adam Turk, Ahmet Aydın Ahmet Kutu, Ahmet Tayyar Vako, Ali Ergin, Aynur Kocaoğlu, Ayşe McGowan, Ayşe Özlem Yüksel, Bahar Ulus, Behice Kolçak Şark, Beril Özeroğlu, Bilal Köse, Bora Çetin, Cansu Saraç Engin, Demet Tokbay, Ece Koparal, Eda Ermağan, Esma Uğurluoğlu, Eylül Erva Akın-Kun, Eylül Özmen Yüksel, Funda Evrensel, Gita Serin, Gülşen Cingöz, Kübra Kırca Demirbağa, Kübra Müjde, Melis Erdem, Meltem Bayrak, Meltem Firüzan Yılmaz, Mevlüde Yalçın, Mine Bayar, Mürüde Mehmet, Nagihan Seymour, Orhun Bora, Özgün Evren Ertürk, Öznur Yenilmez, Senem Peace, Serdar Güzel, Sevda Uykan, Sevim Çakır, Sevim Gelgeç, Sibel Pekgöz, Şöhret Başaran Howells, Sonay Memoğlu, Terry Katalan, Tijen Ahmet, Tomris Buse Oyzoyn – Xhikola, Tuğçe Özgelen, Ümit Demirbağa, Vedia Asım, Zerrin Bucaklı and Zeynep Yasemin Otman.
The British Turkish artists originate from Turkey, Cyprus, the Balkans, and Western Thrace.
The online exhibition opened on 15 February and runs until 15 March 2021.
Main image, top, Rainforest by Terry Katalan
