Berk Gunay

Lives and works in İstanbul, Türkiye

Artist statement

My work begins with the altered sense of rhythm, time, and presence that came from living with a chronic heart condition. This experience changed the way I perceive the body, not as something stable or fully grounded, but as something that can become intensely present, distant, numb, or almost transparent. It shaped my relationship with memory, atmosphere, and the feeling of belonging to the world around me.In my paintings, fragmented memories and emotional residues come together across unstable and fluid spaces. I do not try to depict specific events directly. What remains more strongly for me is the emotional ground they leave behind. Figures, organic forms, and painterly gestures dissolve into one another, creating scenes where inner sensations and the external world become difficult to separate. Although my work is rooted in personal experience, it is also shaped by the collective conditions of living within society. I am interested in the state ofexisting among others while never fully feeling like one of them. This creates a ghost like presence in the paintings, sometimes visible, sometimes fading into the surrounding atmosphere. Through layered brushwork, shifting spaces, and organic marks, I try to give form to this fragile connection between body, memory, and the world.

Artwork