Consisting of works inspired by photographs of period furniture taken by Nihan Yardımcı Çetinkaya during her travels, "The Secret Memory of the Renaissance" awaits visitors at the UNIQ Gallery in Istanbul.

Open until Jan. 15 at the UNIQ Gallery, prominent figures from the art world have participated in the opening ceremony for "The Secret Memory of the Renaissance" exhibition by Nihan Yardımcı Çetinkaya.

With "The Secret Memory of the Renaissance," Çetinkaya references the Renaissance and its creeds. Curated by academic Hülya Kalyoncu, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey to the past with information imprinted on minds and thoughts.

In the context of a general understanding of art, the artist says, "My works do not belong to me." In other words, she presents her work on a universal dimension by accepting her identity as plural and belonging to others. She pulls her identity away from the individualist attitude of abstract expressionism and puts it in an intellectual dimension.

In her work, Çetinkaya puts the individual at the center of the world with a humanistic understanding. This way, she puts the rules of critical thinking into practice and provides a way to examine physical reality. Acting as a Renaissance artist in the way she uses artistic forms, the artist adapts the traces left on her life with a new perspective and in a subtle way. Focusing on objectivity and reality just like Renaissance artists, Çetinkaya describes action as "returning back to order" and promotes getting in touch with the tradition one more time. The works of the artist express a different attitude from Renaissance paintings, which were idealized with illusion and aesthetic concerns. Having exhibited her works at Art Basel in Miami in 2018, Çetinkaya offers a new understanding of the figurative look of objects with her latest exhibition "The Secret Memory of Renaissance," which presents naive and intense characters drawn in a subtle way. The exhibition continues until Jan. 15 at the UNIQ Gallery.