Abdullah Ramazan Polat - Turkish Painting Association

Who is Abdullah Ramazan Polat? (1997-Mersin)

Abdullah Ramazan Polat was born in Mersin in 1997. He completed his high school education in the Machine Technology field at Anadolu Technical High School. Throughout his education, he studied in various disciplines; initially, he studied Graphic Design at Bülent Ecevit University. He then completed the Laboratory Technician and Veterinary Health Program at Atatürk University. However, his lifelong interest in painting and art led him back to art education.

In this context, he began his undergraduate studies in Fine Arts Education and continues his education at the Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Mersin University. Currently in his final year of undergraduate studies, the artist continues his work in Nurseren Tor’s studio and focuses particularly on figurative painting. He currently lives and works in Mersin.

Throughout his artistic career, he has participated in various national and international group exhibitions. While his works have been presented to audiences on different platforms, he has also received awards in competitions and events he has participated in. Polat, who develops her artistic practice through figurative expression, aims to reflect the daily life experiences, emotional states, and individual stories of people in her paintings.

Artistic Perspective:
In the artist’s works, Yörük culture, oral narratives, family stories, and rituals on the verge of being forgotten are reinterpreted within a contemporary visual language. The artist’s primary goal is not only to document a culture, but also to question how cultural memory transforms over time, which parts are erased, and what remains.
In line with this approach, the figures are consciously deformed. For the artist, deformation is not merely an aesthetic choice, but a tool that makes the workings of memory visible. Concepts such as belonging, identity, loss, and transformation are addressed through the gaps between what is remembered and what is forgotten. The formal breaks in the figures correspond to the changes in both individual and collective memory over time.

Rituals, mythological narratives, and daily life practices belonging to Yörük culture constitute an important starting point in the artist's production process. However, instead of developing a nostalgic perspective on the past, the artist aims to establish new relationships between the past and the present and to question how cultural memory persists in the present day.

Through the intense use of color, deformed figures, and at times unsettling atmospheres, the works draw attention to the fragmented, flawed, and constantly transforming nature of memory. Instead of merely reproducing the traditional, new layers of meaning are created by relating it to contemporary social and individual experiences. Thus, the works reveal that cultural heritage is not merely a past to be preserved, but a living structure that is constantly reinterpreted and transformed.

Painting Competitions, Awards and Exhibitions;

2026 - 2nd BN Art Academy Painting Competition (Exhibition Award), Mersin
2026 - Mersin Metropolitan Municipality 102nd Anniversary of the Republic Painting Competition (Achievement Award), Mersin
2025 - 4th National Muğla Sıtkı Davut Koçman Painting Competition (Ali Koçman Special Award), Muğla
2025 - ArtConcept Adana Contemporary Art Fair Painting and Sculpture Competition (Exhibition) Adana
2025 - ArtAntakya 5th Edition Young Talents Painting Competition (Exhibition), Hatay / Online
2025 - Largo Gallery, 6th Edition of the International ExLibris Competition (Exhibition), Varna, Bulgaria
2025 - Inönü University "Paint a Smoke-Free Future" Painting Competition (1st Prize), Malatya
2025 - BN Art Academy Painting Competition (Achievement Award), Mersin
2025 - Gesam "Respect for Artwork and Labor" Painting Competition (Exhibition), Ankara / Online
2024 - BABU University Students Painting Competition (Exhibition), Bolu
2024 - 3rd National Muğla Sıtkı Davut Koçman Painting Competition (Achievement Award), Muğla
2023 - Bazaart Art Exhibition (Exhibition), Istanbul / Online

Selected Group and Independent Exhibitions;
2026 - Education Union Labor and Humanity Painting Exhibition, Mersin
2025 - MiniPaint 4th Edition, Mersin
2025 - World Children's Rights Day "A Child's Story" Painting Exhibition, Mersin
2025 - 24th October Parade, Mersin
2025 - Art Wind Workshop and Exhibition in Çamlıyayla, Mersin
2025 - UTAK International Social Research Congress, İzmir
2025 - Detox 1 Painting Exhibition, Kayseri
2025 - Güllü Bohçalar Hıdırellez Exhibition, Mersin
2025 - Artrium International World Art Day Group Exhibition
2025 - Ecological Vegan Art Exhibition, Ankara/Cankaya
2025 - Don't Kill the Angels! - 3rd International Painting Exhibition, Tarsus
2025 - ASES 2nd International Disaster-Themed Art Exhibition, Istanbul
2025 - Galeri Art's 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Istanbul
2025 - "Let's Protect Our Landscape" Exhibition, Mersin
2024 - 23rd October Parade Exhibition, Mersin
2024 - 6th Mediterranean Art Days "Healing Wounds" Exhibition, Mersin
2019 - Bülent Ecevit University "Hanzala" Exhibition, Zonguldak
2018 - Üsküdar Municipality "Meeting" Exhibition, Istanbul