DILARA
KIZILDAG
Painter
“I paint not to hold a moment still, but to find my way back to it.”
Art Practice
I gather stories
along the way.
My artistic practice takes shape outside the home, at temporary stopping points. In public space, I choose an unobtrusive place where I can feel safe and draw the moment from both within and outside it. My body thus shifts from an object being looked at into an instrument that listens to and reconstructs its surroundings. My drawing practice makes the relationship between inside and outside visible not as a linear passage, but as an interwoven process marked by traces. It becomes a fluid state of being, emerging anew from within.
“Ever since I can remember, I have struggled to form an intimate relationship with words. Visual expression has always allowed me to express myself more fully and has affected me more deeply. At the same time, growing up with the visible scars I have carried on my body since infancy, I learned not to be seen. As I grew up quietly and invisibly, the parts of me that listened to, observed, and watched the life around me developed differently from everyone else’s; painting became a part of me without which I could no longer be myself.” Read more
Series
“MEYHANE” SERIES
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Watercolour, ink, and coloured pencil intertwine across these pages, building a layered visual narrative on paper.
Bringing together everyday observations, moments of travel, and personal experience, each work becomes a way of encountering the world anew.
2006–2026
EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS
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View allTHE HONOUR OF THE FEMININE
Within binary gender norms, woman is defined as the settled one: Mother Earth, Pachamama, Gaia… She nurtures, protects roots, and safeguards the seed.
I find a certain poetry in the expectations of our cherished norms. On the road and in motion, I explore the potential of inhabiting a body with a womb, a vagina, and breasts—and the honour of the feminine.
Media
PRESS COVERAGE
Reflections from an Exhibition
The collective exhibition “Paper Works”, which included Dilara Kızıldağ, brought together four artists in support of earthquake survivors. Part of the proceeds was donated to those affected by the earthquake.
Go Get Dressed!
Dilara Kızıldağ took part in the “Remembering” section of Günseli Baki’s exhibition at K2 Contemporary Art Center with a self-portrait and text. The exhibition focused on the female body, the social gaze, and solidarity.
Dream and Reality: Ten Years of Amargi
In a talk at Istanbul Modern, Dilara Kızıldağ joined other participants in reflecting on Amargi’s ten-year journey through the women’s movement, solidarity, and shifting social realities.
Time to Talk
Organized by the Istanbul Museum of Gender, this digital exhibition brings together artists’ visual narratives on gender, memory, and experience.