My desire was to have a double vision when I chose to enroll in the 5-Year Brown University/ Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Dual Degree Program. This program is specifically designed to allow students to have two degrees from both universities at the end of five years. First year is the foundation year at RISD which focuses more on design and drawing studios although the students are still required to take Art History and English classes. Second year focuses more on Brown through liberal art classes, although the students are allowed to combine them with less intense studio classes offered by RISD. The last three years are a combination of both schools, studios and liberal art classes where we literally have two campuses. I wanted to have the oppurtunity to develop my ideas intellectually with the academic courses offered at Brown and improve my technical skills and visual expression through classes offered at RISD. I am concentrating in Art History at Brown University and Painting at RISD.

After finishing my foundation year at RISD, my environment changed from the studio to the lecture halls and the library in my Brown year. I have been reading articles of critics and curators, participating in seminars and doing research on the processes of other artists in depth. I have been experiencing the same subject from a different point of view, which has inspired my artwork.

My art found its form from the elements of my life. I created my personal identity and developed an artistic form simultaneously. This made me realize that art is a way to live and document my life. I started to do art after my scoliosis operation (to fix the s-curve of my spine) because I found power from the arts in order to have an objective look at my own reality to create my own perception at the same time. Text is the link between my personality and my artwork and the right and left sides of my brain. I like to incorporate pages of books I am currently interested in my actual work because I like to play with the form of the book. In the process, I take the pages out of their container, leaving them without protection, but also setting them free. I believe that the meaning of the text can't change, but can only evolve. The context of the books I use is another important aspect of my work. The books that I incorporate are my conscious decision, similar to the collaged words which are derived from my poetry.

As art is born from humanistic attitudes and reflections from the human soul, artwork gives me the opportunity to make mistakes. Sometimes I observe that those mistakes are the most wonderful features of my artwork because they lead me to another dimension. I learn to fight with the instinct of searching for the "perfection" which Juan Ramon expresses in his book The Complete Perfectionist as "ecstasy" and "restless movement" which can be caught "in motion" and "in progress". Things need to change and evolve in order to catch up with time. Likewise I need to stay open for transformation. Art is a chance for coincidences and possibilities. There is no "correct" way to create which leads me to try and search for the "new". It is possible to fail but also to accomplish. My failures and accomplishments create my "unique self" within my re-discoveries. … Read More