Banu Anka

Banu Anka was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1982. She received her degree from the Painting Department of Tehran University of Fine Arts in 2009. In 2013, she studied Painting and Art History at Toronto ACS Academy, and in 2018, she completed her Master's degree in Plastic Arts at Yeditepe University, Institute of Social Sciences. She currently lives and works in Istanbul.

Anka's artistic practice explores the intersections of individual identity, belonging, and cultural memory. Focusing on the individual's relationship with the 'other', she approaches the face, body, and objects not merely as forms of representation, but as carriers of identity, memory, and social experience. Drawing on photographic realism, her paintings reveal the tension between an individual's inner world and their perception by the outside world, while metaphorical elements connect personal experiences with collective memory.

In her recent work, Anka expands her research to encompass historical and cultural heritage. Inspired by the architecture, tiles, and ornamental traditions of the Great Seljuk period, she juxtaposes these historical visual references with contemporary, artificial objects such as Lego. Through this interplay, she questions the boundaries between past and present, authentic and artificial, natural and manufactured. In her paintings, history is not a reproduced image of the past, but a living memory in constant dialogue with the contemporary world.

Bringing together oil paint, graphite, and coloured pencils on the same surface, Anka also investigates the relationship between pictorial realism and materiality. Her technical diversity is not merely an aesthetic choice, but a conceptual tool through which she reveals layers of meaning. Rather than offering definitive answers, her works create an open space for reflection, inviting viewers to reconsider questions of identity, belonging, memory, and authenticity.