Zehra Dogan an artist who with “nothing” has created an expressive, involving and therapeutic art

Waste, scraps and products to be recycled become means of artistic expression for Zehra Dogan, an artist who with "nothing" has created an expressive, engaging and therapeutic

For an artist and for his art, materials in the form of colors, pencils, canvases, sheets, materials to be molded and equipment for working them, are the obvious means of expressing oneself through one’s talent.

But Zehra Dogan , a Kurdish artist of Turkish nationality, did not have the obvious means of the artists, but he had the art of creating art , with anything that could leave a mark on the newspaper, on the fabric of broken shirts, on sheets to throw, on packaging cartons and on many other worn and lifeless things, suitable for landfills .

If he did not have the traditional supports to express himself, he did not even have the traditional means to draw or paint, no pencils, brushes, charcoals, colors, thinners, spatulas and all that an artist needs to create his own art.

But how did Zehra Dogan out of nowhere create his art, which is a medicine for the minds of those who look at his works?

The disruptive expressive desire, in conditions of imprisonment in Turkish prisons, allowed the artist to create works using his own hair, the remains of tea, turmeric, fruit skins, cigarette ash, menstruation, funds of the coffee, lemon and many other things he found in the junk waste.

Many of Zehra’s works concern women , all women who live in conditions of little freedom, little independence and little consideration, bringing a positive feminism to the center of attention, through the attempt to enhance the figure of the woman in the family and in the society, on an equal, but different, level with respect to man.

The overcoming of sexism in daily life, in art, in the media and in work, lives it through artistic and journalistic commitment with the prospect of giving voice to women who do not have it.

Born in Diyarbakir, Turkey, in 1989, she attended the art and design faculty of Dicle, obtaining her diploma, finding herself expressing the concepts of her feminism through art and journalism, with the intent to help improve conditions of women in a male-dominated society.

After the 2-year and 9-month sentence ended in 2019, Zehira leaves Turkey and moves to London where she exhibits at the Tate Modern. 

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian