Özlem Alkan Güngör - Turkish Painting Association

Who is Özlem Alkan Güngör? (1978-Mersin)

Born in Mersin in 1978, Özlem Alkan Güngör is an artist and educator who has placed her relationship with art at the center of her academic and professional life. She graduated from the Department of Fine Arts Education, Painting and Art Education Division, Faculty of Education, Çukurova University in 2000, and deepened her art research with her master’s thesis, completed in 2026 at the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Mersin University.

Beginning her professional life at the Mersin Hüseyin Polat Education Application School and Vocational Training Center, the artist experienced that art is not only an aesthetic production field but also a transformative and healing form of communication, particularly through her work with individuals with special needs. The observation, research, and production processes she developed throughout her teaching practice have become one of the fundamental sources of her artistic approach.

Alkan Güngör’s works are predominantly shaped around the collage technique. However, for the artist, collage is not merely the juxtaposition of visual fragments; It is the reconstruction of different times, places, cultural layers, and life experiences within new relationships of meaning. In his works, the city, memory, identity, time, and human relations constitute his fundamental research areas. The juxtaposition of fragmented images transforms into a multi-layered narrative established between individual and collective memory in the artist’s works. Particularly drawing inspiration from Italo Calvino’s *Invisible Cities* in his recent works, the artist addresses the concept of the city beyond physical boundaries; as a mental geography shaped by memories, desires, fears, and cultural traces. Combining traditional art techniques with digital possibilities, experimental surface research, and accidental formations, the artist aims to create new visual narratives between the visible and the invisible. The balance between randomness and conscious construction is crucial in his work; each piece is conceived as a unique experiential space where different layers of time and meaning intersect.

Supporting this approach with her academic research, the artist examined the relationships between literature, visual arts, and contemporary culture in her master's thesis titled "Cities: The Relationship Between Collage Art and Mass Culture Through the Work of Italo Calvino." Alkan Güngör, who nourishes her artistic production with theoretical research, reinterprets the expressive possibilities of collage within contemporary art through the concepts of city and memory.

Her works have been featured in national and international exhibitions, art festivals, and mail art projects, and have been exhibited in selected events in Türkiye, as well as in Italy, Japan, Serbia, and South Korea. Currently working as a Technology and Design teacher at the Mersin Yenişehir Municipality Science and Art Center, Özlem Alkan Güngör continues her contemporary art practice, enriching her artistic production with her role as an educator.

Selected Exhibitions and Events;
1998–2005
* 1998 – Çukurova University Rectorate Graphic, Painting and Sculpture Competition Exhibition, Adana,
* 2000 – Golden Cocoon Culture and Art Events Year-End Exhibition, Adana,
* 2002 – Ata College and Hüseyin Polat Educational Institutions Joint Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2003 – World Disability Day Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2004 – Disability Week Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2004 – DYO Mural Applications, Mersin,
* 2005 – METEF Painting-Work and Handicrafts Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2005 – Personal Painting Exhibition, İçel Art Club, Mersin,

2010–2019
* 2010 – S.O.S. Art Event Painting Exhibition, Balçova / İzmir,
* 2010 – Apple Grape Festival S.O.S. Art Event, Gülnar / Mersin,
* 2015 – World Art Day Painting Exhibition, Taşucu / Mersin,
* 2017 – “Missing Persons” Project Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2018 – “A Drop of Humanity” Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2018 – World Art Day Painting Exhibition, Taşucu / Mersin,
* 2019 – Teachers' Painting Exhibition, Mersin Archaeology Museum, Mersin,
* 2019 – 1st International “A Drop of Humanity – Lemon Blossom” Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2019 – 1st International A Drop of Humanity Painting Exhibition, Elazığ,

2024–2026
* 2024 – “Mail Art Project Vine / Wine – Echorama Association”, Selected Exhibition, Italy,
* 2024 – International Contemporary Art Fair, Mersin,
* 2024 – BIAF International * 2024 – BIEAF Environmental Art Festival “Old Future”, Selected Exhibition, Busan/South Korea,
* 2024 – “Room with a View” International Selected Painting Exhibition, Serbia,
* 2025 – “Dancer Girl and Ballerina” International Selected Exhibition, Serbia,
* 2025 – “Dancer Girl and Ballerina” International Selected Exhibition, Japan,
* 2025 – Teachers' Day Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2025 – Visual Arts Teachers Painting Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2025 – “2nd Labor and Human” National Painting Exhibition, Selected Exhibition, Mersin,
* 2025 – Yaşar Kemal “The Birds Have Gone Too” International Mail Art Project, Adana,
* 2026 – “Cat” Mail Art Project, Selected Exhibition, Italy,
* 2026 – “Dancer Girl and Ballerina” International Selected Exhibition, Japan,
* 2026- “3rd Labor and Human” National Selected Painting Exhibition, Mersin,