selen gunay - artistic

Short Films

Cashmere & Dumplings

This video moves between inherited culture and institutional privilege.

Between a kitchen and a university. Between what is taught and what is passed on.

It is not about belonging. It is about who is allowed to arrive already prepared.

Watch the film

Grey

What happens when everything is provided, but nothing is felt?

Grey is my observation of friendships in Northern European social societies, where care exists, but distance is part of the agreement.

From an early age, people learn how to protect their boundaries, yet sharing, mutual reliance and collective vulnerability remain unfamiliar. This is not individual failure, but a system they are raised within one that minimizes the need for empathy because survival rarely depends on it.

The absence of shared hardship turns relationships inward, limiting the urge to reflect, to project or to lean on one another.

Watch the film

Mezzaluna Art Project

May 16, 2024, Doğuş Holding's Art Project for Mezzaluna Restaurant, Galataport, Istanbul

As part of its ongoing collaboration with Doğuş Grubu's platform "SanataBiYer", the walls of the MEZZALUNA İstinyePark AVM Branch have been transformed into an artistic atmosphere. I designed and hand-painted 15 unique ceramic plates, blending craftsmanship with contemporary artistic expression. These designs were later transformed through 3D printing and integrated into the interior decor of a newly opened venue in Istanbul.

Utopia Residency

July 10 - July 16, 2024, Workshops with Osman Dinç/Hüsamettin Koçan/Erdal Duman, Baksı Museum, Bayburt

Panels form flowing enclosures for immersion; MDF and local Bayburt pine (sustainable, authentic) enable adaptive construction tied to regional identity. Mehsime means “to give possibility.” It reflects the idea that starting only with certain dimensions and a single type of material, there lies an infinite number of possibilities. These possibilities are shaped through creative thinking, intellectual identity, and by imitating forms found in nature. More than 50 structural model experiments were conducted to reach the final form.

Paintings