ABOUT ME
I am a writer, poet and painter born in İzmir in 1991. After completing my graduate studies in Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul University, with a year of Arabic language in Cairo, I moved to Germany in 2014 and pursued a Master’s degree in Arabic Language and Literature at Freie Universität Berlin and SOAS, University of London. Parallel to my professional career in the field of international relations with focus on ecology, gender, and migration, I continued to write and create art, developing a painting technique which I call animistic expressionism. Since January 2025, I am a fulltime freelance artist and writer.
My paintings have been part of exhibitions in Berlin, London, Barcelona, and Prague. My poems, short stories, and articles have been published internationally in literary magazines and newspapers in Turkish, German, and English.
My works, both visual and literary, blend the subconscious with the real, dreamscapes with lived experience, exploring themes of guilt, mourning, violence, and transformation. Animals, mythological figures, and imaginary beings often appear as symbolic guides in my writing and painting, dissolving boundaries between humans and nature, reality and illusion, subconsciousness and consciousness. I have practised Aikido, a Japanese martial art, for eight years and currently practise Kendo. My experience in martial arts complement my painting and writing.
My style is raw, archaic, and instinctive. I paint with my hands and seashells in an unplanned, intuitive flow, just as I write with pen on paper, following the current of consciousness in search of unfiltered expression. Across languages and across paintings, I create layered narratives that investigate the tension between vulnerability and intensity, isolation and recognition. At the heart of my work is the search for connection: between self and other, conscious and subconscious, between love and brutality.
Each story, poem, or painting is a living event. Formed yet fluid, condensed yet in becoming.
***
EDUCATION
2015–2018 Master of Arts in Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
2017–2018 Erasmus Exchange, School of Oriental and African Studies University of London
2016–2018 Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Scholarship
2009–2014 Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences and International Relations, İstanbul Üniversitesi
2012–2013 Modern Standard Arabic, Arab Academy Cairo and Cairo University
Languages: Turkish, German, English, Arabic
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2025 Freelance Artist and Author
2025 Freelance Aikido Instructor
2025 Freelance Social Media Manager, United Networks
2024–2025 Artist/Workshop facilitator for painting, funded projects
2021–2024 Project Officer for Turkey and Greece, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Berlin
2020–2021 Blue Book Trainee, European Commission, Brussels
2019 Project Officer, ICJA Freiwilligenaustausch weltweit e. V., Berlin
2016 Student Assistant, Türkischer Bund in Berlin Brandenburg e. V., Berlin
2012 Intern, Educational Reform Initiative, Istanbul
2011–2012 Author of book reviews, Turkish daily newspapers Birgün, Cumhuriyet and Dünya
2011–2012 Assistant Photographer, Serhan Serter Photography, Istanbul
to see the Publications
to see the Exhibitions