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I am a visual artist and writer from Istanbul, Turkey, currently living and working on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.

 

My practice encompasses installation, sculpture, and painting, through which I explore the transient nature of knowledge and visual culture with an inquiry into non-linear time. My works are introductions to other stories, which exist in past, present, and future, traversing within and between cultures, communities, and histories. They aim to initiate dialogue between historical narratives of multiple perspectives, destabilizing the entrenched colonial history of progress, and generating new knowledge for the future. Oscillating between numerous aesthetic and research interests, such as Anatolian visual culture and folk practices, Islamic mathematical art, and speculative fiction, my works negotiate a multitude of cultural, social, and political terrains, but stay emotionally connected to the homeland. They  reveal remote relationships between worlds, and establish new connections through motifs and patterns.

Alongside my artistic practice, I am a writer, curator, and team member of Nosy Mag, an Ottawa-Gatineau based artist collective examining and building the region's culture through exhibitions, essays, events, and by providing resources.

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Solo Exhibitions
2024 Wishes from Hereafter, Artengine, Ottawa, ON

Selected Group Exhibitions
2025   Lacuna, Art-image et espace Odyssée, Gatineau, QC
2025   Newcomer, G101, Ottawa, ON

2023   XL: 40th Anniversary Exhibition, AXENÉO7, Gatineau, QC
2022   Cross-Paths, LaLande + Doyle Exhibition Space, Shenkman Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON
2022   Constellate, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
2022   Kosmic, Carleton Architects Association of Ontario, SAW Club, Ottawa, ON
2020   Art History: Is It Relevant?, Gallery 115, Ottawa, ON

Artist Residencies
2023   Artengine, Artist in Residence: Art & Science Fiction

Public Art
2022  The Welcome Back Project by Christos Pantieras, community-engaged temporary public artwork project, various locations across the city of Ottawa, ON, Canada
2021   Wish Tree, mural in collaboration with artist Ferhat Demirel,  85 University Private, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Grants and Awards
2023  Seed Grant, City of Ottawa
2022  Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG)'s Graduating Student Award of Excellence
2022  Articipate Project Grant, Arts Network Ottawa and the City of Ottawa
2021   Youth in Culture Pilot Program Grant, City of Ottawa

Curatorial Projects
2024 Spoiled Lemons, Curator with Nosy Mag, Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2023  Jinx!, Curator with Nosy Mag, Wallack Galleries, Ottawa, ON
2022  Cross-Paths, Curator, LaLande + Doyle Exhibition Space, Shenkman Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON


Published Writing
2023  The Performative Masks of Neeko Paluzzi, by Yekta Çetinkaya, Nosy Mag volume 3: Jinx, physical paper publication only. 
2023  Alex Sutcliffe: Syncing Matter, Between Canvas and Screen, by Yekta Çetinkaya, Nosy Mag, January 13, 2023

Press
2024  Planting Roses in January, Drain Magazine, Editorial: Celina Jeffery, THE GARDEN – Vol. 19:2, Jan. 2024

2020  Yekta Cetinkaya, Peintre aux influences internationales, by Thelma Grundisch, La Rotonde

Education
2017-2022   Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) , University of Ottawa

Related Professional Experience
2024-  Interpreter, National Gallery of Canada
2022-  Store Manager, Sherry Welden Art Store, University of Ottawa
2022-2024
  Marketing and Communications Officer, Department of Visual Arts, University of Ottawa
2020-2022  Administrative Assistant and Marketing Content Creator, Department of Visual Arts, University of Ottawa

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