GİZEM KÂHYA İYEM
Gizem was a reserved child but she gravitated toward art early on. It is a passion that has followed her through life. She started taking ballet lessons at the age of five. The musical training she received there in the dance studio fascinated her so much that she started violin lessons at the age of 10. Music helped Gizem learn to exist and communicate through art. She went on to study art and design at Sabancı University in its visual arts and communication department. As an art director in movies, she dreamt of recreating entire worlds. And then she joined the Evin Art Gallery family. While working on the gallery’s creative projects and exhibition productions, she continued as an art director for films and music videos and appeared in group exhibitions as part of the Taşeron Independent Art Initiative.

Creating work across a variety of artistic disciplines allows Gizem to explore diverse visual languages and aesthetics while working in a gallery environment. According to Gizem, art is a product of the courage it takes to create. Like the decisions made during the creation of a work of art, the gallery’s artistic choices feel harmonious to Gizem, who is guided by artistic instincts while trying to maintain this affinity.

OSMAN NURİ İYEM
Osman comes from an artistic family. His grandparents were artists, his mother a gallery owner and his father an art fair director and a ceramicist. Art is in his genes. As a child, Osman often spent time at his grandmother’s workshop, where he played with ceramics instead of toys. His first camera was a gift from his grandmother. During his high school years, he watched a lot of movies and listened to music constantly. He studied cinema at university but claims that he enjoys the shaping of materials that is often a part of photography and other mediums, as much as the storytelling. Osman developed an interest in the dark side of the world; a period in which he focused on (literally) dark images and (metaphorically) dark relationships. His Master’s thesis on the fabrication of reality and the role of art had a profound impact on his artistic output. In his films, he wants the audience to feel his presence behind the camera. The manipulations that occur in his photography are evident and he encourages his audience to think about why.

The traces of Osman’s versatile artistic personality are also reflected in the operation of the gallery. He can easily connect and empathise with artists. His aesthetic perspective contributes significantly to how exhibitions are presented and narrated, the nature of collaborations with artists, and how artists’ dilemmas are resolved.