Zekiye Akalın - Turkish Painting Association

Who is Zekiye Akalın?

Artist, born in Berlin, Germany. She graduated from the Black Sea Technical University, Fatih Faculty of Education, Department of Painting-Teaching, Graphic Section, as the second-ranked student in her department.

She completed her master’s degree at Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, Department of Visual Arts Education under the Fine Arts Graduate Program.

She worked as a teacher in Istanbul, Rize, Trabzon, and Erzincan. She served as a graphic designer in the R&D Department of Erzincan Provincial Directorate of National Education, coordinated numerous projects at Science and Art Centers, and worked as a graphic designer/painter at the Ministry of National Education, General Directorate of Special Education and Guidance Services. She currently works as a visual arts teacher at the Ministry of National Education.

In 2022, her poetry book titled “Ayperest Ruhum MAVRO” was published. Her story illustrations and designs have appeared in national journals and publications, and she has an article published in an international peer-reviewed journal.

She has held three solo exhibitions and participated in numerous national and international group exhibitions. Her works are featured in various collections.

Awards;

- 2003: Super Star Achievement Award

- 2010–2023: Achievement Awards granted by the Ministry of National Education

- 2013: First Place in Storytelling (Provincial Level)

- 2016: Exhibition Award at the SAKÜDER Art and Artists Community Painting Competition

- 2017: Exhibition Award at the Colortone "Bedriye Fidan Woman and Color" Themed Painting Competition

- 2017: Exhibition Award at the Adana Painters Association Painting Competition

- 2018: Exhibition Award at the Colortone "Free Theme" Painting Competition

Solo Exhibitions;

- Arnavutköy Municipality Cultural Center / Istanbul (2002)

- Bakırköy Basad Art Gallery / Istanbul (2003)

- Gallery Soyut / Ankara (2021)

Fantastic Fictional Paintings;

The artistic creation process involves the mind, creative ideas, imagination, immense effort, and the subconscious that guides our interests and perceptions.

Starting from the reality of the geography we inhabit, we journey toward our inner reality. Our mental and physical actions against the external reality that defines the boundaries of our inner truth shape this path. In the painting process, we free ourselves from rationalism, prejudices, and clichéd expressions to construct our inner world. Guided by inspiration and intuition, we create opportunities for self-discovery. This journey is unique to each artist, as emotional accumulations from the depths of our inner selves are externalized. Everything perceived and processed by our senses transforms into symbols. The symbolization process often incorporates personal, traditional, and universal symbols.

Painting is the art form that harbors the most symbols. In Zekiye Akalın’s works, which utilize symbols, the central focus is the female figure. These women often embody roles such as spouse, companion, or mother, always portrayed in deep contemplation. The female figures, reflecting grace and delicacy, exhibit a measured and distant stance, with large kohl-rimmed eyes conveying melancholic gazes, exemplifying modern orientalist aesthetics. Complementary symbols like birds, trees, flowers, and keys frequently accompany the central motif. These figures, emerging as expressions of individual subconscious imagery, often bear traces of traditional culture. However, these symbols never appear as mere imitations of "nature’s existing reality," as Plato described. Instead, each transforms into meticulously crafted, unique images within the artist’s imaginative workshop.

All elements exist within a fantastical narrative, as defined by Berna Moran: "a term for narratives that disregard realism’s concepts of time, space, and character, dissolve the distinction between animate and inanimate, and incorporate alternative worlds beyond our familiar reality." This narrative is rooted in a fantastical construct, where visual aesthetics adhere to uncompromising rules in color resolutions and the interplay of visual images across different spatial and temporal layers.

To preserve the ancient language of the community from her childhood region, the artist titles her works in Romeyka Greek.

Zekiye Akalın is represented by Gallery Soyut and continues her work in her studio in Ankara.