Coming to Chicago from Istanbul on a Fulbright started a new era in my life. I become more conscious of the communities I belong to, as well as my national and sexual identity. Having exposure to different cultures is essential to my development; even though I have lived in foreign countries in Europe before, coming to the USA was a whole new experience. It has inspired me to investigate my artistic expression in a social and political context, my identity and also exposed me to many perspectives and techniques for making art.
My work explores race, gender, and sexual and national identity. By recognizing and acting within the gaps of social convention, I want to inspire others to re-evaluate their own societal role. We are, according to sociologist Robert Park, “More or less consciously, playing a role… It is in these roles that we know each other; it is in these roles that we know ourselves.”
My MFA thesis project, Sugar Coated (The Birth of Tragedy), a multidisciplinary interactive installation with digital and electronic media components, draws on my personal, psychological, and cultural relationships to address the emotional complexities in global and American culture. Using sugar cubes, sound, animation, video and an interactive game board, Sugar Coated draws an analogy between the digital age and the imperialistic history of sugar caused industrial revolution. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the sugar trade was one of the major forces of globalization, fueling the slave trade and sparking the global economy. Today, digital technology is the major force of globalization, and in Sugar Coated I use sugar cubes to evoke both the global history of sugar, as well as digital pixels we have become so accustomed to processing today. The Birth of Tragedy investigates a similar analogy between American culture by using the noise sound in my installation and 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s book titled The Birth of Tragedy, which he was talking about Greek music and culture in terms of pessimism and in relation to German culture and music. The piece is meant to convey a contrast between the subject matter and the way it is visualized. In the video component, sugar cubes spell out words taken from 19th century sugar ads and slave trade posters, giving a pixilated look to the text. My goal is to make the viewer feel distanced from the words as pixels, but emotionally disturbed by the content of what they read. The electronic interactive sounds in the installation, is a responsive 6 multi-channel sounds, also create a similar feeling of displacement; the static noise is impersonal, but creates a disconcerting feeling for the audience. While pursuing MDM, I intend to expand the ideas to explore drawing analogies between digital culture and globalization.
To study digital media, electronics, sound, history, and psychology to develop my work technically and theoretically. I believe artists/designers should always explore the alien and never be restricted by discipline. My work often explores different aesthetics, media, forms, and subject matters. As Sugar Coated demonstrates, I am drawn to the ambiguous boundary between personal and universal. I will enhance my computing skills and continue to explore my developing passion for digital and electronic media, and digital sound in order to investigate the relationship between individual and group psychology in a society dominated by digital culture. Today, society is more isolated, with many becoming disconnected from their emotions. It is through digital pixels that we connect, not through touching; our friendships, even, are increasingly turning to social networking sites. Although technology has intensified our abilities to communicate, and communicate quickly, it also filters away some of the personal. I am interested in creating a visual contrast with electronic media and emotional content. I want to investigate the way the culture we live in affects individual emotions, encouraging my audiences to reflect on the ways they relate to the world around them.