Meet the Artist

Elif is interested in empowering the female figure by painting her in a relaxed but confident pose, owning her body and facing boldly at the viewer without having an intention to charm them. These nude figures are a part of dynamic and complex compositions where they interact with traditional Turkish patterns and motifs that are there to celebrate the presence of women in our patriarchal society.

BIO

Elif was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, and always had a love for art. She developed painting and drawing techniques next to the artist Nesrin Calika, whom she worked with in Istanbul for 10 years. In 2020, Elif came to US to build on her passion and she is currently a Senior majoring in Art Practice at UC Berkeley. Elif has an interest in figure drawing and usually works with oils while she likes to create collage works using non traditional materials, such as trashbags.