CANAN

CANAN was born in 1970 in Istanbul, Turkey, where she lives and works. She graduated from the Department of Painting at Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts. Since the 1990s CANAN has been analyzing how institutions such as government, family, society and religion affect the private lives of women. In her recent engagement with ancient cosmology, CANAN brings a new level to her analysis, revealing how old narratives are pulled through new frames of morality to dictate contemporary experience. 
Within her investigation, CANAN examines symbols within the collective consciousness and the subconscious, and reflects on how these symbols shape human behaviors and relationships. Symbols are a timeless, non-geographical and common language that mark our daily lives and that define our relationship with each other and with history. Symbols are a common language, for which the meaning ranges from the “highest art” to daily objects, to those in politics, humanity and art history, but one that is mostly involved with the transfer of beauty, human feelings and thoughts. Through symbols, we often have an understanding and perception of past times from a contemporary perspective. In her most recent works, CANAN continues to work on the cognitive, intuitive and imaginative effects of images, which are at times frightening, and at times definitive of beauty, nurtured by nature and symbolized through perceived meanings. How we perceive a symbol is dependent upon personal and social perspectives. Her solo shows include “Endearment, Divinement, Contentment”, Daire Gallery, Istanbul (2019); “Behind Mount Qaf”, ARTER, Istanbul (2017); “Shining Darkness”, Rampa Gallery, Istanbul (2016); “I Beg You Please Do Not Speak to Me of Love”, Siyah Beyaz Gallery, Ankara (2014); “Turkish Delight” & “Even a Cat Has a Moustache”, Gallery X-ist, Istanbul (2012&2010); “Segregate”, KIBLA Multimedia Centre, Maribor (2010); “Bahname”, MASA Project, Istanbul (2007); “Behind the Curtains”, Festival De Rode, Amsterdam (2006); and “…finally you are in me”, Istanbul (2000) among others.