Based on The Introspect - Emmett Hodgins
Artist Statement:
My work is about capturing the resilience and growth of the human spirit as we strive to create meaning and purpose in a world forever changed by the pandemic.
In the upper center of the work, I used a traditional Turkish motif symbolizing the wish for solidarity. Turkish rug motifs and how they are arranged in patterns are the keys to discovering each weaver's story. In the artwork, I aimed to think like the weavers and tell a story about a person walking to solidarity. As the person walked down the path, they couldn't help but feel a sense of unease and uncertainty. The world was a much different place now, one that the pandemic had forever altered. But amidst the chaos, the person felt a glimmer of hope and found a way to unite in solidarity. They knew the journey would be challenging, but they were ready for the challenge. They had already seen how the pandemic had brought people together, inspiring acts of kindness and generosity, and they were determined to build on that spirit of unity. Weavers have believed from earliest times that imitating or weaving part of a dangerous animal will give them power over it and protection from it. Likewise, I hope that my artwork will protect us from bad times.
Artist: Ebru Kur
Program: Visual and Digital Arts
Ebru Kur is a city planner and an artist originally from Istanbul, Turkey. Kur has a bachelor's degree in City Planning and is currently studying Visual and Digital Arts at Humber College. As a multidisciplinary artist, she creates digital artworks, mixed media paintings and unconventional installations through an investigation of endless issues that trouble all of us throughout our lives, like identity, mental health and femininity.
What began as a personal journey to understand her identity has translated into various overlapping themes and strategies. Her idiosyncratic artworks are characterized by loose, minimalistic lines and shapes that celebrate and resist concepts of “womanhood.”
Kur does not feel any ties with any ethnic group because her grandfathers, who fled from wars, had to hide their identities in order to survive, and they raised generations that did not know their origins and where they belonged. In this vein, Kur, who defines herself as a citizen of the world, plays with stereotypes, folklore and prejudices to show that no outside authority can define our identities.
She is currently working on her first illustrated children's book project, which helps raise funds for survivors of domestic violence and their kids.