Having graduated from the painting department at İstanbul's Marmara University just last year, young painter Almıla Kursar's new exhibition, titled "Kirli Ağustos" (Dirty August), is currently on display at Gallery Artist in Çukurcuma; and this is not her first exhibition, either.

Kursar says she starts her work with the question of how to use art as a means to achieve social peace, adding that she aims to reflect the dilemmas of the contemporary era in her paintings. Some of her pieces depict the corruption of human nature, while others highlight the abuse of female sexuality. "Female sexuality is being abused by both sides in Turkey. Conservative circles try to repress it by isolating women from society, while the liberal circles use it by pushing them to dye their hair, act in video clips or be models. Today you can even see Marilyn Monroe's picture on bread bags," she says in an interview with Today's Zaman at the gallery where her work is on display.
One of Kursar's paintings in this collection depicts a girl who is sitting with a baby-doll while she herself becomes a puppet at the same time. "There are only a few duties placed on women and one of them is being a mother. Of course, it is a very nice thing and humankind should reproduce, but society ties your hands when it happens; you have to step back from your working life and you become a person who does not have any personal time or interests," she explains, pointing to one of her other paintings depicting a mother holding a baby in her arms with a pair of scissors in the corner of the image. "I put the scissors there to imply that if you want, you can actually cut it [these ties]."

The 27-year-old artist has been drawing since she was a primary school student. She says even if her inclination to paint may stem from the fact that many members of her family paint as a hobby, none of them supported her when she decided to be a painter at the age of 15. "Even before I took the national exam [ÖSS] they were trying to convince me to study sociology or psychology, since they thought these theoretical fields were more secure," she explains, adding that both the intellectual elite and everyday citizens are distant from the fine arts. "Not just the fine arts, we don't even think there is a need for supporting cultural activities in general," she says.

While comparing the painting atmosphere in Turkey with that of Western countries, Kursar points out that there are many museums featuring classical pieces for students to study in the West, while in Turkey there are only two museums displaying classical pieces: the State Painting and Sculpture Museum and the Archaeology Museum. "We have a serious lack of resources. We have a culture unique to us, but we chose to express it primarily in writing after the Tanzimat period in the Ottoman Empire. Whatever I do here, I will always be behind those Western painters. As a consequence, one finds herself experiencing a syndrome in which she tries to adapt the West to Turkey and, because of that, I am working on subjects related to Turkey," she says.

Following her current exhibition, Kursar is planning on preparing a series on the recently highlighted problem of work-related deaths of shipyard workers in İstanbul's Tuzla district. "This show will be a challenge to Neşet Günal, whom I recognize as one of my masters. By challenge I don't mean to outdo him, but I am curious if I will be able to prepare a collection on the working class that is different from what he did," Kursar says. Asked why she is interested in depicting the working class, rather than some other oppressed group or minority, she explains that she believes they suffer a worse fate than everyone else. "The only hope given to them is individual survival. 'Get along with your boss so you can get a raise,' or other such things. I can sympathize with the oppressed, because I am a woman, but my subject could have been the Kurdish people in southeastern Turkey or the veiled students who cannot enter the universities."

Kursar, who has held three solo exhibitions so far, is also interested in literature. She has penned a short novel titled "Kafamda Sesler Konuşuyor" (Speaking Voices in My Head) describing the lives of young Turkish people at the beginning of the 21st century, and she is currently working on another that she hopes to publish.

"Kirli Ağustos," which is also the name of a book of poems by Edip Cansever, one of the greatest representatives of the İkinci Yeni (Second New) movement in Turkish poetry, consists of 24 pieces she has painted over the last three years. The exhibition will run until Aug. 20 at Gallery Artist in Çukurcuma. For more information visit www.galeriartist.com.

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