Ozlem Simsek

Özlem Simsek (Turkish, b. 1962) Self-portrait as Lady with a Cigarette (After Ibrahim Çalli) signed 'Özlem Simsek' (on a label affixed to the reverse) archival inkjet print 27½ x 47¾in. (70 x 120cm.) Executed in 2011-2012, this work is number two from an edition of three plus one artist's proof 'My photographs and videos are based on masterpieces of Modern Turkish art history. Using myself as the model, I wear costumes and perform mimics and roles of the women whom we see in these paintings. The work entitled Lady With A Cigarette was inspired by the famous Turkish painter Ibrahim Calli's work from the 1920s entitled Portrait of a Woman, in which we see the depiction of a beautiful woman holding a cigarette and staring at us in a gloomy way. This depiction is a combination of the modern Ottoman-Turkish woman's image and the orientalist painting tradition. I follow myths about femininity and play with them. I see these roles such as costumes which can be worn; removable, transportable. This process forces myths to disclose and helps myths to betray themselves.' (Özlem Simsek, 2012.)

Özlem Simsek (Turkish, b. 1982) Self-portrait as Screaming Lady (After Nuri Iyem) C-print 41¾ x 32¼in. (106 x 82cm.) Executed in 2011, this work is number one from an edition of three plus one artist's proof Istanbul, Galeri Zilberman, Epic Seduction, June-July 2011 (another from the edition illustrated in colour, unpaged). 'The photography entitled Self-portrait as Screaming Lady, (After Nuri Iyem) is part of my recent project which is "Selfportrait as Modern Turkish Art." In this project, I am putting myself in front of the camera and try to act like the women whom we see in modern Turkish paintings. I am playing with the moment of posing. In this way, I created a series consisting of photographs and videos which reflect the transformation of the image of women in modern Turkish Art and modern Turkish History. This work refers to the famous Turkish painter Nuri Iyem's work entitled Scream. In this painting, Iyem depicted a woman who screams while she is escaping from a forest fire. While I was posing as this woman, I wanted to create a scream not only as a reference to the fire but also because of everything around me. (Özlem Simsek, 2010).