top of page

statement

I am a sculptor interested in people and the complicated ways we relate to the places we live. My work draws from the urban environment around me—buildings, streets, signs, benches, and the shapes that quietly structure our everyday lives. Alongside these physical elements, memories, stories, and myths also find their way into my work.

As an immigrant, the idea of movement and rebuilding a life is very personal to me. Like many people who move across borders, I once packed my life into cardboard boxes in order to start again somewhere new. Because of this, cardboard became my main material. It carries the symbolism of migration, transition, and impermanence. Cardboard boxes hold our belongings when we move—they contain fragments of our lives, our memories, and our hopes for what comes next.

 

I spend a lot of time photographing buildings and the shapes I encounter on the streets. I’m interested in the masses, silhouettes, and unexpected forms created by the city. These images become a kind of visual library for me. Using cardboard, I transform these shapes into three-dimensional collages—sometimes abstract, sometimes suggesting figures or familiar structures.

 

My sculptures reflect a feeling many people share: the sense of never fully belonging to just one place. Instead of seeing this as a loss, I see it as a possibility—an invitation to think of the world as a larger home.

 

In my recent work, I have also started incorporating words into the sculptures. Language becomes another layer in the work, connecting ideas of identity, movement, and belonging.

cv

Press

gokcenataman@gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/gokcen_ataman/

0027071_1_single_rose_385.jpeg
bottom of page