Personal Statement on Art

I am a Toronto-based photographer, artist and part-time PhD student delving into environmental ethics and early modern German philosophy. My heritage is Turkish, although I was born in the small Bulgarian town of Svishtov, perched along the Danube River, in the midst of the Cold War. Behind the “Iron Curtain,” my family endured a period where state authorities sought to obliterate our collective identity, by brutally suppressing our ethnic and religious practices, and creating a spiritual vacuum that shaped my early years.

Raised in an environment devoid of meaningful nourishment, I grew up with a profound emptiness, a sense of void at my very core. As I age, bolstered by the support of my family and the grounding presence of our two young children, alongside living with a challenging illness, I have begun to rebuild a sense of personal spirituality.

Despite an inability to fully embrace any formalized religious structure, I have found solace in the thoughtful engagement with art. Through purposeful creative activity, I seek to approach the sublime—an ongoing journey of reawakening through artistic expression.

I was fortunate to receive a thorough photographic education at an early age, during my time as a refugee in North Africa in the 1980s. By the time I was in Grade 6, I was already immersed in the fundamentals of film photography. 

In time, I came to realize that my camera was not just a tool for documenting the external world, but rather a means of seeking something more elusive—mystery, and the ever-elusive glimmers of the sacred. My aim is to craft each personal project with this intent: to deepen and expand this nascent spirituality, gradually re-enchanting the world around me. 

Because he also regarded photography as a path to the spiritual, Minor White remains one of my foremost artistic influences. I am equally inspired by Kandinsky’s vision of the spiritual in art, and I absolutely admire the films of director Andrei Tarkovsky. Above all, I owe much to my teacher and mentor at McGill University, the philosopher Charles Taylor, whose core insights continue to guide my exploration of identity, faith, and creativity.