Two Turkish artists invited to International Florence Biennial

Two assistants from the Adıyaman University Department of Painting, Semra Sonya Doğan Ak and Büşra Kuruçay, will attend the 11th International Florence Biennial, which will be held between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15 this year.

Speaking to journalists, Professor Mustafa Talha Gönüllü, the rector of Adıyaman University, said the two academics from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the university have been invited to an art event that is held once every two years.

Gönüllü said Semra Sonya Doğan Ak and Büşra Kuruçay are the only academics from Turkey who have been invited to the event. "This event will host art lovers and prominent figures in art from all around the world. Selected works of 400 artists will be exhibited in the event, and being part of it is a privilege in itself. Moreover, we are proud of the fact that they invited two academics from our university in Turkey," he said.

Kuruçay said they filed applications to exhibit their own works in the event. "We sent them our works via email and we received the invitation after the committee evaluated our application. We will be exhibiting our works in one of the stands at the event, which will be held between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15. I sent them more than six works, and we are supposed to choose two of them to exhibit," Kuruçay said. The artist also added that she mainly chooses to use figurative painting and that figures from southeastern and eastern Turkey feature most in in her works. Semra Sonya Doğan Ak said she generally reflects migration and world-related issues in her paintings. "I submitted an application for the biennial with two paintings. I am a migrant from Bulgaria and want to reflect migration in my paintings. We are all migrants. The event will take place between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15 for nine days. There will be also a contest as part of the event, and a big prize will be given to the winner," she said.