Şeref Yeter

Who is Şeref Yeter? (1991-Gaziantep)

Born in Gaziantep in 1991, he completed his primary and secondary education in the same city. His talent for visual expression became even more evident when he caught the eye of his art teacher during his middle school years, and during this time he took a short course in painting. Following high school, he continued his education in the Department of Art Teaching at Çukurova University’s Faculty of Education in Adana. He received comprehensive training in both graphic design and art teaching, successfully completing his undergraduate degree. In 2014, he began his professional career as an art teacher at a village school. After placing first in the 2022 fine arts high school teacher recruitment exam, he returned to his alma mater, the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce Fine Arts High School, as a teacher. This transition further deepened his desire to contribute to both his teaching and his field of study through art. His interest and inclination towards art took a professional turn. In 2024, she began her master’s degree in the Department of Painting at Gaziantep University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, in the Studio of Prof. Dr. Ayhan Özer. In her academic studies and artistic productions, she explores themes of “connection,” “nature,” “trace,” and “individual” with an interdisciplinary approach. Currently working at the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce Fine Arts High School, she continues her art education and personal artistic practice with the same enthusiasm. By integrating her pedagogical knowledge with her artistic production, she aims to contribute to both her students and the art field.

Art Perspective:

For me, “connection” is not an abstract contact between two things; it is the way being constructs itself, an invisible fabric it weaves from the inside out as it engages with the world. In my work, I strive not to represent this fabric, but to make its state of being visible. Different materials, such as leather paper, cotton, canvas, and rope, are not merely objects lying on the surface; they are incorporated into my work as traces, layers, and carriers of tension. Every surface becomes the space of an encounter; the flow of paint, the tension of the rope, the silent shadow of the texture carry the vibrations of the bond. For me, nature is not an external landscape, but the external face of the vital flow within a person. Therefore, there is no sharp boundary between person and nature; the breath of one mixes with the texture of the other. In my works, memory appears as an intermediary space where both the remembered and the forgotten intertwine. Nothing is complete, like the nature of the bond; every trace carries an unfinished sentence, an ongoing relationship, an unclosed door. The viewer is therefore not the outsider looking in to my works, but the second half. With every look, the connection is re-established, reshaped; the meaning is not fixed at a single point, but multiplies. This is why my interdisciplinary approach is essential: painting makes visible the sensory bond, digital intervention the connection to the speed of the age, installation the spatial and physical bond, and the material the connection with nature itself. Art for me is a whisper rather than a result; a space that makes the distance between two things audible, reveals the invisible tension, and confronts people with their own inner bonds. This is precisely why I strive to create works that are quiet yet intense, serene yet vibrant, simple yet profound: to make the bond itself, the desire of beings to touch one another, audible.