Reflection No. 2 Painting

Ayse Sirin (Shee-Reen) Budak is an eco-artist born in Istanbul, Turkiye in 1986. She currently resides with her husband and two daughters and works in her home studio in Long Island, New York. After receiving her B.A. in Political Science with an Art History minor, Sirin started to focus on her art more enthusiastically right after she became a first-time mom in 2015. With the birth of her second child in 2016, her daughters' naptimes became her relaxing and recharging time at her home studio. Having two small kids around her art practice, inevitably made her more conscious about the materials she chose to work with. With that on her mind, Sirin started to explore eco-friendly and sustainable materials. Especially her daily walks in nature with her kids nurtured her creativity immensely. Using recycled handmade papers, and foraged earth pigments, making her own natural inks from food waste, bundle dyeing with dried flowers, naturally dyeing cotton threads and working with fabrics that are hand-made by local women are just some of the sustainable and eco-friendly options that Sirin applies in her creative process. With that, she aims to create a visual language that encourages a deep appreciation for the natural world around us. By committing to using natural materials, Sirin hopes to evoke a sense of harmony and hopes that her viewers could realize how immensely nature provides us with everything we need, and with that comes gratitude. For Sirin, working with natural material is her way of showing her gratitude for everything this beautiful mother earth generously spares on humankind. Despite the unstoppable mass productions and consumerism, through her art Sirin hopes to evoke a sense of living harmoniously within the environment, to remind us to cherish the authenticity found in nature and to have gratitude for all the things nature provides us. Besides her dedicated commitment to environmental and creative consciousness and sustainable art practice, minimalist abstraction and the stillness of minimalism in Sirin's works is also a very dominant aspect. Especially, on the pieces where she sews dense cotton threads which takes hours of dedication and focus, is a perfect example of her enjoyment of being present in the moment by slowing down and practicing patience in our daily chaos. Her intensely personal work seeks to encourage the search for meaning that strips away excess layers to focus on the absolute essentials.