ARTISSIMA: ELİF URAS, NAZIM ÜNAL YILMAZ

Galerist is pleased to present a selection of works by Elif Uras and Nazım Ünal Yılmaz at
the 2026 edition of Artissima, taking place in Turin, Italy, from 30 October to 1 November.
Working across distinct visual languages, the two artists critically examine how
subjectivity is constructed within social, political, and economic systems.

Elif Uras foregrounds the gender dynamics embedded in histories of representation,
domestic labour, and practices of care. Drawing on the visual and material language of
underglaze-painted İznik ceramics, her practice examines how women’s bodies and
roles have been aestheticised, coded, and rendered invisible within androcentric and
capitalist structures. Through ceramics, Uras reclaims these narratives, repositioning the
female figure as an active subject while questioning the politics underlying ways of
looking across different times and geographies.

Nazım Ünal Yılmaz develops a painterly language that explores states of political,
psychological, and cultural instability through figures that oscillate between vulnerability
and defiance. His compositions often approach emotionally charged or unsettling
themes with a disarming subtlety, with humour and irony serving as critical tools.

Gestures move between theatrical exaggeration and restraint, creating images that resist
fixed interpretations. By maintaining a tension between sincerity and satire, Yılmaz
creates a space in which meaning remains fluid and critique emerges through ambiguity.

Together, the practices of Uras and Yılmaz propose a dialogue on visibility and agency,
questioning how gendered and politicised bodies are positioned within systems that both
define and render them invisible. While Uras brings to light the historical and structural
conditions that shape representation, Yılmaz turns inward, tracing the psychological
imprints of these conditions as they emerge through the figure. The juxtaposition of their
works opens a space of resonance between external structures and internal states,
offering a layered reflection on contemporary subjectivity.