Başak Eylül Çakmak
Eylül was born on September 9, 1997, in Istanbul and discovered her passion for art and design at an early age. She studied painting at a Fine Arts High School before earning a full scholarship to Kadir Has University, where she pursued a degree in Visual Communication Design. She graduated in 2019 as the third-ranking student in her department. During her undergraduate studies, she interned as a design assistant at the Kadir Has University Gender and Women's Studies Research Center and gained her first experiences in the art world through an internship at MixerArt Gallery. In 2017, she expanded her design perspective internationally by studying Communication and Multimedia Design at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
She began her professional career with an internship at a UX and UI design agency in the Netherlands. Upon returning to Turkey, she worked as a Product Manager in a corporate company for one and a half years before transitioning to another corporate role as a UX Project Manager, where she worked for three years. However, her deep passion for art and curatorial practice led her to take a different path. She participated in the Contemporary Art and Curatorship Seminar Program by Akbank Sanat and Açık Diyalog, taking a significant step toward her dreams. During the seminar, she volunteered at Elgiz Museum on weekends, strengthening her connection to the art world.
To establish a solid academic foundation in the field of art and curatorship, she began her Master’s degree in Art History and Curatorial Studies at the University of Groningen in 2023. She is currently focusing her thesis on installation art.
Pupa
The "Pupa" exhibition aims to confront the unconscious behaviors people perpetuate and emphasizes that emerging from this shell, from the "Pupa" state, is possible.
In our daily lives, we find ourselves in the antagonism of "reality" and "truth," inevitably adopting the same actions dictated by our routines. This monotonous cycle alters how people perceive time. Time becomes a wasted resource, and days, weeks, and months blur into one another. The value of the moments we live in is overshadowed and lost to ordinariness.
Within this ordinariness, we become individuals unable to break out of our shells. The monotonous flow of life creates an inner resistance to stepping out of our comfort zone. The risks brought by the unknown, change, and new experiences deter us from taking action. Often, even though we know we should question the existing order, we continue to cling within the boundaries of our safe harbor. Our courage dissipates, confined within our shells, unable to go beyond mere desire. But will it continue this way?
The exhibition's name “Pupa”, refers to the motionless stage of a metamorphosing insect, encased in a protective cocoon, unable to feed or move. This immobile state of the insect in its pupa is strikingly similar to the limited, stagnant, and undeveloped comfort zone in which humans find themselves.
Pupa is like a period of transition. Inside the cocoon, a person retreats into the safe and familiar boundaries. However, this refuge becomes an impediment to potential transformation. While human potential requires pushing boundaries and discovering one's originality, a person in the pupa stage opts for questioning this change and lacks the courage to do so. Two choices lie ahead: emerge completely from the cocoon to explore paths of change or extinguish the inner fire and potential, leading to oblivion.
The "Pupa" exhibition aims to confront the unconscious behaviors people perpetuate and emphasizes that emerging from this shell, from the "Pupa" state, is possible. By closely examining daily routines, habits, traditions, stagnation, comfort zones, home, and fear, it initiates a process of making sense of these concepts. While exploring the limits of what belongs to ourselves and society through the repetitions in our daily lives, it offers an aesthetic experience that shakes the status quo and invites its visitors to break their cocoons and discover their inner potential.