Kingdom

Gözde İlkin works on found domestic fabrics such as tablecloths, curtains and bed sheets, transforming them into vehicles for exploring social processes, identity and the interaction between the manmade and natural worlds. Inspired by theories of ecofeminism, the scenery and forms in her work trace the transformative, healing effects that plants, animals and humans can have upon each other and the ways in which they can coexist.

The unfamiliar forms in Kingdom, one of the earliest examples from İlkin’s Organized Habitation series, are painted directly onto the canvas and are supplemented by embroidered thread across the surface of the fabric and outlining parts of the composition. Together, the flora and fauna in the work address the meeting of plant and animal life which intertwine within the fantastical environment they cohabit. Painted in a rich, earthy brown, the two figures scramble upon two flesh-toned outcrops whose unusual formation and cracked, brain-like edges suggest a deeper geological history beyond the present scene. The snakeskin-printed section in the right half of the composition conjures a less intelligible form, and could depict either a rocky crag or another living organism lying dormant.

Gözde İlkin lives and works in Istanbul. Recent solo exhibitions of her work have been held at Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL), Paris (2019); artSümer, Istanbul (2019); Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris (2019) and Gypsum Gallery at Condo, New York (2018). Her works are included in private collections internationally as well as public collections such as Arter (Vehbi Koç Foundation); Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Istanbul Modern and MAC VAL, Paris. Most recently, İlkin’s work was included in the group exhibition Rooted Beings, Wellcome Collection, London (2022) and the 13^th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2021).