Bengisu Bayrak

I am making paintings, installations, and videos to create visual narratives of my imagination and thoughts of my surroundings. My works are involved with little stories within the representations of grand narratives, by investigating in historical meaning, common perceptions of backstory and of their knowledge. Constructed through the written historical documentation (such as the history of civilizations which was always written by the conquerors; history of art, which was mainly concerned with male artists; anthropological studies on "primitive" cultures), grand narratives dismiss the personal and local narratives, and ignore the variety of means of existence. Through my works, I am questioning the credibility of the existing grand narratives. I find my subjects in ephemera, "unimportant" documents, and forgotten books. I combine the appropriated documentation with my own imagination and create alternative narratives. Playing with the perception of ‘what is real’ and ‘what is fake’, my works stand on a zone in which ‘the real’ and ‘the fake’ overlap.

I work and live in Istanbul.

Born in West Germany, in 1978.
2009-2011: (Masters) University of Wales, MBA in Marketing
2005 - 2008: (Doctorate in Arts) Marmara University, Institute of Fine Arts, Department of Painting.
2002-2005: (Masters) Istanbul Bilgi University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Film and TV.
1997-2001: (Bachelor) Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting.

Solo Exhibitions:
September 2017: Hide and Seek (New York)
May 2016: Aletheia - Disclosure (İstanbul)
April 2013: Once Upon a Time (İstanbul)
November 2012: Rewritable (İstanbul)
May 2012: Fake (İstanbul)