Artist Interview: Hatice Akkuzu
Interview By: Emma Lum
Hatice Akkuzu is a visual artist who creates paintings out of small natural materials like tree logs, small branches, and stones. She enjoys the creating process and gets very excited to see what small pieces will become. She says that there is a strong connection between her life, emotions, and the materials she uses.
AADN:
What was your first interaction with art, and what inspired you to pursue art yourself?
Hatice:
I started painting when I came to Canada. I came here when my daughter Asya was 6 years old. My husband couldn’t come with us. I lost my two sons and my daughter lost two brothers. In order for my daughter to adapt and be happy here, we started to paint my daughter’s 6-year-old pictures together with natural materials.
AADN:
Why did you choose organic materials to create your artwork?
Hatice:
I believe that nature has healing power. While walking in nature with my daughter, we combined the tree branches on the ground, the stones and dried tree bark and shaped them according to my daughter’s pictures. It was like natural therapy.
AADN:
Why do you think it is important to have connections between life, emotions and the material you use?
Hatice:
When the connection between life’s feelings and the materials I use is not established, the painting cannot give the message it wants to the person in front of it. To this day, in every painting people have bought from me, people have said that this is exactly like me, or this is exactly my life story, or that there is something in this painting that makes them smile and it makes them happy. When the connection is not established, they only see the paintings as dried tree branches and pebbles that we have stepped on. And it doesn’t make any sense to anyone. I want them to touch their pure form in nature as they can touch the painting they bought and tell their own stories. Let them experience the peace and happiness that my daughter and I felt while making these paintings. I want them to feel the pure healing power of nature.
AADN:
Can you describe your immigrant experience and how it influences your art?
Hatice:
When I came to Canada, my daughter and I didn’t know any English. It is very difficult for a person to express himself freely, to change all their habits, and to adapt to a different country. And when all this was added to the previous negative experiences I had experienced, I was completely stuck. We had to find a way to express our feelings in all the paintings I have done with my daughter till today. In fact, our immigration process here allowed us to discover ourselves in a new way, and this allowed us to adapt more easily.
AADN:
What is the message you want to convey through your artwork?
Hatice:
Everything that exists in this world is a whole and we are a part of that whole. Although we destroy nature under the name of modern life, all scientists invented the things we use in modern life today or found answers to questions with the inspiration or answers they received from nature. Even the main ingredient of the medications we use to heal ourselves comes from nature. But we always forget it. I wanted to change people’s perspectives a little bit. I wanted to remind us of the complementary effects of nature on the balance of birth, life and death in nature.
AADN:
How did you develop your artistic skills?
Hatice:
I did not make any effort to develop my art skills, as time passed, the materials I collected from nature became like puzzle pieces for me. Whatever I feel that day, I put these pieces together. In fact, this is something that anyone who wants to can do, it is both easy and visually beautiful and a complete flow of emotions.
AADN:
What artwork have you prepared for the Inclusive Arts Festival?
Hatice:
I have 5 different fun works, each of them is very meaningful to me, but I don’t want to talk about them. I never explained what my art work means. Everyone who looks at them make a different connection according to their own life and their own point of view.
I think this is the most beautiful and fun part.
It makes me very happy that people look at the paintings according to their feelings and life situations, and see their own stories and share them with me. I’m so excited for this event.
AADN:
Will you be working on any projects or participate in any showcases in the future?
Hatice:
Yes, I really want to continue. My daughter Asya is now 12 years old and has been making and selling her own paintings for the last three years. Now I have another 9-month-old daughter named Arya. I am planning to open our own exhibition by making artworks that express ourselves. At the same time, I want to do workshops to show people that they can easily do it themselves and to show how much fun they can have while doing it.
Editor: Ezel Urul
