Eda Sutunc

My name is Eda Sutunc, I am an interdisciplinary artist, lecturer, dreamer and an art entrepreneur based in Istanbul, Turkey. I completed my undergraduate studies at Koc University, Istanbul majoring in Media and Visual Arts, minoring in Psychology with a design certificate. I did design projects working as a freelance designer and worked, creating brand identities, flyers, logos and posters. How I felt about design was that I enjoyed solving Sudoku puzzles but what I wanted to do was creating the puzzle.

I started pursuing my interest in performance art and video art, creating videos visualizing issues in societal situations and politics in Turkey. To deepen this practice I studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I received Dean's scholarship to attend. Since then I have been exhibiting my artwork nationally and internationally, receiving recognition from various international competitions such as the Celeste Prize.

The most valuable lesson I learned throughout my studies in Chicago was freedom of expression. It might seem peculiar but, growing up in Turkey, I never felt I had the right to say out loud what I believed. I kept censoring myself to be "kind", to be "understanding", "to not stand out". This new freedom, I was able to experience even more with the artist's residencies I participated. During Inspiring change artist's residency, the exchange I had with the other residents, a form of non-formal education, helped me a lot building my project Norn Gallery, a platform organizing virtual art exhibitions, creating a borderless free space for artists anywhere in the world.

My art practice as an active citizen is to bring visibility to subjects, focusing on making visible the invisible, in making tangible the ephemeral, in speaking aloud the unspoken and in voicing voicelessness. I believe Reshape Project will give me more opportunities and a wider network that will allow us all to create strong and impactful projects together.