Moving from my home country Turkey, which I feel is a land heavily steeped in a strong collectivist culture, to a new western culture has been a breath of new life for me and my spirit. At my new destination, I experience a greater emphasis on the individual and their freedom.
For me this new cultural environment, together with its natural landscape, has provided a new dimension to my feelings and mode of personal experience. The sceneries of the forest floors, after a strong storm has passed, clothed in scattered twigs and fallen autumn leaves, have made a deep and lasting impression on me.
I believe that a being does not exist solely through its material-body but is born into existence when it starts to express feelings. My first encounter with such scenery was, I feel, the moment I was born. It was at that very moment that I felt the need to paint my self portrait.