Ayşegül Öngel

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• Ayşegül Öngel

  Who is Ayşegül Öngel? (1966 – Istanbul)She was born in Istanbul in 1966. She attended Halide Edip Adıvar Primary School in Ankara, the middle school division of Çankaya High School, and Bahçelievler Deneme High School. In 1988, she graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Middle East Technical University (METU). Due to her spouse’s professional assignments, she practiced architecture—focusing on custom projects—in Istanbul, Adana, and Gaziantep. When her spouse was subsequently posted to Ardahan, she worked as an English teacher for three years, as the local environment did not offer opportunities to practice her own profession. Upon returning to Ankara in 1999, she resumed her architectural career, working at the (now-defunct) General Directorate of the Land Office (under the Prime Ministry) and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change. After serving as a Department Head at the latter Ministry for approximately six years, she retired in 2020 and settled in the Boğaziçi neighborhood of Milas, Muğla. Although she had long held an interest in painting—a passion she maintained throughout her working life—she began to seriously pursue the craft in 2004 after settling in Ankara. She took oil painting lessons (focusing on still life) from painter Gür Dalkıran at the Ankara Ethnography Museum and within the Land Forces Command. Most recently, she studied for approximately eight years under painter Hüseyin Yıldırım at the Nurol Art Gallery. Her time at the Nurol Art Gallery proved to be a period of artistic maturation, fostering original works that were deeply inspiring and—where appropriate—technically deconstructed. Since retiring, the artist has continued working in a private studio in Boğaziçi (Bargilya). To date, they have participated in numerous group exhibitions and art fairs, and have held six solo exhibitions.

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