MASK MAKING AS A FORM OF PAINTING
Between the years 2004-2008, while I was performing with the music band Baba Zula, I started to use my version of costumes, ritual masks/makeup, and dances which were inspired by archaic rituals. While experimenting, and looking for my own language, I realized the sculpture and painting in these movements and costumes.
Using masks and makeup, I continue working on the ideas off stage, recording my sessions and creating short video clips.
In 2008, I did a 12-month masterclass with the Brussels-based program SIC. Their program involves artistic coaching through collective seminars, individual mentoring, group critiques, and inter-artist dialogue. In this program, I have documented a video journal where I used the Anatolian carpet weaving symbols as my language. To be able to weave my carpet I did a series of face painting sessions
(a section will come soon to explain this project in detail with visuals and excerpts from the video).
In my work, construction and destruction naturally occur. Like in a collage painting, reconstructed with pieces of multiple paintings or the painted face’s brief existence recorded as a video clip.
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