Gulay Semercioglu

One of the first contemporary female Turkish artists to abandon painting and traditionally ‘female’ mediums in her practice, Semercioglu uses light as her primary material. Shimmering, smooth blocks of colour at a distance, her wire-woven works play on our senses of depth and perception, fluctuating in tone and vibrancy as light is reflected and refracted by each individual steel strand.

The artist’s deft handling of a typically industrial material also adds to the sculptural and figurative quality of her practice. She creates more than simply ‘non-narrative’ abstract paintings, rather she emphasises the complexity and labour-intensive aspects of the making process, and touches on traditional Anatolian craft in a uniquely contemporary way.

The artists’ knitted wire Kilim series builds on these cultural links to Anatolian textiles, where she spotlights single motifs such as the ‘Hands on hips,’ - one of the regions oldest designs and traditionally linked with fertility, strength, family unity, and protection.

These more overtly figurative elements add an autobiographical component to Semercioglu’s practice, highlighting how it has been shaped by her own experiences growing up in Native Anatolia and as part of a culture these symbols were a particularly significant form of communication.