Zumrut Boran

Zümrüt Boran is a contemporary artist based in Istanbul, working primarily with mixed media and oil on canvas.

Her practice explores identity, emotional tension, and the fragile boundary between authentic and constructed expression. Her work began with portrait-based explorations, which later evolved into the Silent Clowns series—where the clown figure emerges as a symbol of imposed expression and internal dissonance.

Her process is intuitive and physical; she often paints with her hands, allowing the image to develop through gesture, pressure, and erosion.

During a recent period, Boran developed the series Broken Game, shifting toward game-based structures such as XOX patterns and references to hangman. In this body of work, she examines systems that appear structured yet fail to function, reflecting a gradual erosion of control, meaning, and identity.

She has since returned to the clown figure, continuing to explore the instability of identity through a visual language that moves between figuration and abstraction.

Yeditepe University, Faculty of Fine Arts – Plastic Arts, 2003
Studies in painting, sculpture, linoleum and gravure printmaking

Exhibition in Bodrum and İstanbul