E.S. KİBELE YARMAN

She completed her undergraduate studies in Communication Design at Bilkent University in 2012. She received her master’s degree from the Design Department at the School of Visual Arts (New York, USA) in 2015. Since 2019, she has been pursuing her doctoral studies in the Settlement Archaeology Department at Middle East Technical University (METU). Academically, she has worked and continues to work at institutions such as Bilkent University as a part-time lecturer/instructor.

 

‘Break Seal Gently’ is a 10-piece series consisting of paper assemblages featuring stitches in various colors. The series questions the idea that the female body belongs to nature and focuses on the intricate relationships between femininity and the earth. In addition to the 10-piece series, three freestanding 2.5-dimensional installations composed of larger-scale pieces (such as 50 cm x 50 cm) derived from the series were also planned.

 

Each paper assemblage represents a captured moment, depicting a fragment of time witnessed in nature by mimicking a snapshot or a lomographic instant taken with a point-and-shoot camera. The juxtaposition of these elements introduces an additional layer of meaning infused with surrealism. The organically shaped stitches that resemble botanical forms extend the pieces beyond the second dimension, perhaps into a “two-and-a-halfth” dimension. While forming a kind of relief, these stitches point to forces such as wind or the frequencies of flora and fauna.

 

These works also bring together images from different scenes in nature, creating multiple layers of meaning; for example, underwater scenes containing organisms such as jellyfish, sea urchins, and corals appear alongside elements associated with the female body. Thus, the works in the series focus on the interaction between these two groups. Where do they touch, intertwine, and diverge?