Biography
Born in 1991 in Istanbul, Seda GazioÄŸlu is an artist who seamlessly intertwines tradition and contemporary practice. She began her education at Parsons School of Design in New York, later continuing at Central Saint Martins in England. Since 2014, GazioÄŸlu has actively contributed to the art scene through a diverse range of mediums, including oil painting, metal sculpture, video, and digital art, often utilizing found and antique objects, notably vintage Turkish carpets. Her artistic approach is shaped by her experience with a learning difference, leading her to create a unique mapping method that simplifies complex subjects into accessible visuals. This minimalist, subject-driven aesthetic emphasizes the essence of each piece, presenting her work in an “audition tape” format that invites viewers to engage deeply with the subject matter. GazioÄŸlu's exploration of human cognition, particularly its interpretation of rituals and superstitions, reveals the intricate relationship between the supernatural and the everyday. Growing up in Turkey, she examines the pervasive magic within her culture, often masked as superstition. Through her work, GazioÄŸlu uncovers the hidden magic of daily life, mapping these elements to ordinary forms and encouraging a re-examination of the familiar as a landscape rich with mystical dimensions.
Solo
Exhibitions
2025
I Am Not On The Menu
2018
2024
2021
The table—a symbol of unity, belonging, and shared existence—is reimagined as a site of confrontation. Here, a quiet paradox unfolds: selective empathy grants some beings protection while rendering others invisible, reducing their identities to mere dishes.
This installation challenges speciesism, urging viewers to confront the dissonance between professed values of compassion and the realities of consumption. It compels us to acknowledge the lives excluded from our circles of care, questioning the boundaries we draw between ‘us’ and ‘them.’
Each piece invites a moment of introspection: to see is to bear responsibility. In recognizing the unseen, we are called to align our actions with our ethics, transforming passive consumption into conscious choice.
‘I Am Not on the Menu’ challenges the narratives we accept and the lives they shape—ask yourself: if the roles were reversed, would your story end on a plate? Thankfully, today, you are not on the menu.
Was That Cat Black?
A fleeting shadow—was that cat black? What happens if you don’t take a step back?
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In the face of the unknown, people grasp at rituals; each superstition promises an illusion of control over the uncontrollable. In a world marked by the fragility of existence, one universal craving persists: the insatiable need to outwit death. This exhibition takes you on an unsettling journey into the depths of uncertainty.
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Now think again—was that cat black?
Dinner is Served
When You’re Ready, Come—The Table is Set.
Let us gather as a family and confront what we’ve long ignored. Come, let us face the truths of today and find the courage to question our habits, to challenge the patterns that have shaped our lives for far too long. Let us seek harmony between what we do and what we believe. If we must, let us debate—but let us always return to compassion. What truly matters is that we love, and that we summon the strength to embrace new responsibilities. Me, you, and the you within; or those who surround you in this moment—or perhaps, in solitude— let us come together, as we have for generations, around this table where truth is revealed.
When you’re ready, come—because the end is drawing near.
2015
The I Captivity
You are imprisoned by the fears you glorify.
Your past commands your future, and the humanoid scarecrows that you create to protect yourself, command your soul.
The present moment – the only way to absolute peace – slips away from your fingertips.
You are the only barrier standing in front of ‘you’.
Reveal your fears and destroy them, because your freedom starts where your feardom ends.
We Are Not I
I fear that we are not able to really feel what it is to be ourselves. When we question who we are, do we cease to be our true selves? Or do we face the true essence of our self more than ever?
If our answer to this question begins with ‘I’, we’ve become part of the egocentric and ego-driven system of today’s world. ‘I’-focused world, constructed and driven by ego.
If our answer begins with ‘we’, we’ve broken free from the system, been stripped of our ego and through awareness and peace of mind have entered a state of enlightenment through the freedom of the right brain.
Hence those we-focused souls, who live their lives with collective humanity as their focus rather than just themselves, have awakened to the fact that they are simply one small component of a whole, one tiny particle of the immense energies that form the universe.
The two different lobes of the human brain are home to two entirely different characters. However much we’ve tended to formulate our thoughts and construct our characters on the basis of the left side of the brain, in every moment of life it is in our power and within the realm of choice to take the step over to the right brain and to enlightened living.
Are we aware that we hold the key to this sacred power? In knowing the distinct characteristics of the two sides of the brain, and having the freedom of choice, which do we choose in our daily life? And who are we? Who do we choose to be?
