Fatoş İrwen

Fatoş İrwen is a feminist activist and Kurdish contemporary artist. She was born and raised in the historic Suriçi district of Diyarbakır. In 2004, she graduated first in her class from the Painting department at Dicle University’s Fine Arts Education program. Alongside her artistic production, she worked as an art instructor in various cities for approximately ten years.

In 2012, she was detained during protests against the government related to hunger strikes at Diyarbakır Political Prison. Following a five-year trial process, she was arrested again in 2017 for political reasons and spent three years as a convicted political prisoner in Diyarbakır Political Prison. As a result of political persecution, her work as an art instructor and her institutional roles were terminated by Decree Law (KHK). Despite these challenges, she opened five solo exhibitions illegally while imprisoned.

She was released in 2020 during the pandemic. In 2021, she launched her long-delayed solo exhibition simultaneously at two different venues in Turkey, each curated independently. Her artistic practice draws from the environment she was born into and continues to live in, engaging deeply with issues such as war, resistance, racism, lynching culture, justice, body politics, religion, power, and domination. Rather than addressing these themes purely politically, she explores their psychological effects and processes, reinterpreting the relationship between body and space through personal experiences, memory, and the unseen.

Her work seeks to create a surreal atmosphere influenced by the unconscious, dreams, and psychological tension. This approach often manifests through performative processes, a method rooted in her three-year production experience while imprisoned. She employs a wide and unrestricted range of media, including painting, video art, digital works, photography, installation, writing, textiles, and organic materials.

Her works have been exhibited internationally in locations such as Berlin, Austria, Hong Kong, Iceland, Paris, Mexico, Tehran, Morocco, Stockholm, and across Turkey. She currently lives and continues her artistic practice between Istanbul and Kurdistan.

Instagram: @fatosirwen_art