Güler Ates

Born in 1977 in Eastern Turkey, Güler Ates lives and works in the UK. She graduated in 2008 from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Fine Art. Currently, she is Digital Print Tutor at the Royal Academy Schools. Her work can be found in the print collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Government Art Collection (UK), Oude Kerk, Huis Marseille, Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) in Rio de Janeiro and the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin.

Working across video, photography, printmaking, and performance, Ates explores themes of cultural displacement and the merging of Eastern and Western sensibilities. Her practice frequently addresses Orientalist tropes within Western visual culture, positioning the veiled female figure within opulent or historically loaded European interiors to interrogate assumptions about identity, visibility, and the politics of space.

Site-responsiveness is central to Ates’ work. She engages with architectural settings that bear the imprint of colonial or post-colonial histories, conducting extensive research into their pasts. These investigations inform not only the conceptual framing of her work but also material choices, from the fabrics used in costume to the colours that become visual anchors within her compositions. Through performance and photography, her veiled protagonists enact subtle gestures that evoke cultural duality and speak to both personal and collective memory.

She has developed projects in architectural sites such as the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), Leighton House Museum (London), Great Fosters (Egham), Royal Academy of Arts (London), City Palace (Udaipur, India), Huys te Warmond (Netherlands), and in various locations across Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Instagram: @guler.ates1