DVAA Member since 2022

Basak Kilicbeyli

About:

Basak KILICBEYLI (Ba-shak Kuh-luhch-bey-lee) recently is working with textiles, exploring the techniques and materials that are old to the world but new for her. Symbols from kilims and figures from various mythologies in her large-scaled rugs look into themes, such as gender-based discrimination, gender relations, queer elements in myths, and ancient cultures. Her art is exhibited in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and can be found in the permanent collection of Woodmere Art Museum. Everything has started in Moscow, Russia, in 1992 and continued in Adana, Turkey. Dreaming about living in the US since her early teen years led her to Istanbul, and she received BFA in Graphic Design from Yeditepe University in 2017. A few years later, after taking a two-year break in France, she moved to Philadelphia and received MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2021. She’s currently living and working in Philadelphia, PA.

Artist Statement:

Two years of exploration and research in grad school led me to the relationship between objects and non-heteronormativity. This encouraged me to create the object itself and probe gender relations more. Textiles, particularly rugs, have always inspired me by containing mystifying imagery and untold stories along with myths from various lands and times. In terms of methods, relief and mono printmaking have been quite exquisite for me as well as embroidering and tufting yarn. Noticing that such valuable and laborious things, often forgotten faster than today's news, are feisty within myself allowed me to build a core for my art practice.

In my recent works, non-heteronormative appearance is highlighted in and through myths of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, within soft and cozy textured surfaces such as tufted rugs, embroidered knittings, or printed papers and fabrics. I work in large sizes to double the contextual and visual strength of the work. My childhood drawings inspire the figures I draw. With gender-ambiguous mythical figures, I aim to strengthen how ancient the non-binarity and gender-fluidity are, reveal how heteronormativity has existed since then, and look deeper into gender relations, which clue today. Therefore, catchy color palettes celebrate queerness.

Looking into myths awakens me to see this much-engendered hatred and disdain towards nonnormative makes me question normativity in every field. Textiles and printings are satisfying for now to express this train of thought. Ultimately, I intend to offer the viewer a pinch of awareness of these exhausting associations in a broad sense.