BAŞAK CANSU GÜVENKAYA

Başak Cansu Güvenkaya, born in Istanbul in 1991, pursued her undergraduate education in the Sculpture Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. As part of a student exchange program in 2013, she continued her education for a period at the Weissensee Kunsthochschule art school in Berlin. In 2016, she graduated from the department with honors, earning the Sakıp Sabancı Art Award.

She completed her master's degree in Sculpture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2019. She held her first solo exhibition in 2020 at the Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts, IMOGA. Her works have been exhibited not only in Turkey but also in Australia, Germany, the United Nations, Canada, and Italy. Currently, Güvenkaya continues her artistic endeavors in her studio in London.

Through her journeys in search of a place where she can feel truly belonging, Başak Cansu Güvenkaya confronted the fears and anxieties about the future that threatened her existence as an artist. She realized that there is no perfect place to live with confidence, and decided that she can only create this world for herself.

Viewing loneliness and fear as inevitable conditions for individuals in our era, as they increasingly individualize themselves in the name of freedom, the artist offers a colorful and playful method through her works to cope with this situation.

Güvenkaya's sculptures and paintings function as protective figures or talismans. In fact, by questioning the beliefs and lifestyles of the first humans in his works, he explores the original purpose of sculpture, which is protection and healing. He reinterprets the connection with the present by focusing on the protective and therapeutic qualities of the art form. The characters in his works create a secure, self-contained world where the evils and fears of the world are swallowed and eliminated, envisioning a realm where negativity does not exist.