Kibele Art Gallery is presenting more than 50 works by sculptor Ayla Turan to art lovers until 11 May.
“Ayla Turan Retrospektif” opened its doors to art lovers on Monday 9 February at İş Sanat Kibele Art Gallery in Levent, Istanbul. Tracing sculptor Ayla Turan’s thirty-year artistic journey, the exhibition features 56 works in materials including marble, bronze, wood and polyester.
Saying that preparing the exhibition felt “like leafing through old albums”, Turan reflects on the selection: “Throughout my 30-year artistic journey I have always looked ahead. Today I paused and looked back to see what I had left behind. Every emotion is fresh; for the first time they are all together, my world on my stage. The players are different, the time is different, the stage is the same. This exhibition is like taking a breath for what comes next. A deep breath. A resting point in the race, carrying the testimony of the past into the future. And the beginning of running on while bearing witness to history.”
In his essay for the exhibition catalogue, Prof. Dr Marcus Graf describes Ayla Turan as an artist “who has built her own path with independence, empathy and quiet determination, and whose practice broadens our horizons as to what sculpture can be and what it can reveal about the world we share.” He adds: “By bringing together thirty years of uninterrupted production, this retrospective makes visible the intimate bonds between Ayla Turan’s life and her art.”
“Ayla Turan Retrospektif” can be visited free of charge at İş Sanat Kibele Art Gallery in Levent until 11 May 2026, daily from 09:00 to 19:00.
The exhibition catalogue is available from the bookshops and website of Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, RHM Dükkan and selected bookshops.
Ayla Turan (b. 1973, Hamburg) is an independent artist working internationally. She graduated from the Department of Sculpture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul in 1996.
Approaching everyday objects and figures with a childlike sensibility, she encourages viewers to look more deeply at what they see and to reflect on a wide range of social issues. Her sculptures are often humorous and dynamic, carrying a constant sense of motion. Although they do not physically move, this feeling of movement is a defining element of her practice.
Turan’s recent sculptures take children and their world as their subject. With a minimalist touch, she explores childhood from sociological, theological, psychological and cultural perspectives. She captures children’s colourful world through form, evoking the innocent, pure realm of childhood with smooth white surfaces.
Turan lives and works in Istanbul. Her public sculptures can be seen in Turkey, Germany, France, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, South Korea, the Dubai International Financial Centre, the West Rutland Art Park in Vermont (USA), Egypt, Italy, India, Syria, China, Burkina Faso, Sweden, Mexico and Bahrain.
