Research Catalogue

research expositions

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  The Way of Wonder (last edited: 2025) author(s): Karya Öner This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
  The Way of Wonder explores the transition from childhood to adulthood, focusing on the subconscious mind’s role in preserving childhood memories, emotions, and fleeting impressions. This project examines how the sense of playfulness, imagination, and freedom that define childhood gradually fades as societal expectations and responsibilities take hold in adulthood. Through my paintings, I aim to visualize the dreamlike, emotional fragments stored in the subconscious scenes, colors, and sensations that shaped our early perception of the world but often become suppressed over time. By merging these elements with figurative expression, I seek to capture the contrast between childhood’s spontaneity and adulthood’s structured reality. Inspired by the expressive, figurative techniques of artists like Adrian Ghenie and Egon Schiele, I use human forms and body movements to emphasize the performative nature of adulthood. My paintings incorporate bold, vivid colors to reflect the raw intensity of childhood experiences and the subconscious imagery we carry into adulthood. The figures I depict often exist in an ambiguous space, caught between movement and stillness, symbolizing the ongoing struggle between personal identity and societal expectations. For women, this transition carries additional layers of complexity. The expectations imposed by society regarding appearance, behavior, and roles can suppress individuality and creative expression, making it even harder to maintain the sense of freedom we once had as children. This project seeks to explore that struggle while offering a reflection on how we can reclaim a sense of play and spontaneity in adulthood.
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• Heterotopia (last edited: 2025) author(s): Karya Öner This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
  My project is based on the concept of heterotopia, a term by Michel Foucault that describes real places which are also strange, layered, or “other.” I was inspired by spaces that exist between reality and imagination, like memories, dreams, or forgotten corners. In this project, I explored how physical spaces can reflect emotional states. I used digital collage and oil painting. In oil painting, I experimented with human figures to reflect inner world. In contrary to that medium, also concept, in digital collages, I used fragmented landscape and urban environment features to give that heterotopic space feeling. I see heterotopia as a place where different times, feelings, and stories can exist together. It is not just a physical location, but also a mental and emotional space. I also reflected on the digital selves we create,how we build different versions of ourselves online, and how they are part of this layered identity. I wanted to create a space where the viewer feels slightly outside of reality. This project is personal, but it also invites others to connect with their own other selves.
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