Sitkiye Uluca, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

I was very fortunate to grow up in a beautiful part of southern Cyprus. My childhood in the village of Episkopi played an important role in my imagination and artistic development.

Our hilltop house overlooked green valleys, the infinite dark blue sea, and the ruins of Kourion, an ancient Greek city-state. These views, along with vistas of unspoiled Mediterranean carob and olive trees, left unforgettable images in my mind of tranquil beauty.

While I don’t have a university art education, drawing and painting have long been part of my daily life. As a child, I always looked for the details of beauty, and tried to recreate them in my sketches. The many art classes I took in both the historic walled city of Famagusta on Cyprus, and in Istanbul, Turkey helped develop my skills. However, it was the classes I took in 2011 at Fleisher Art Memorial during my six-month stay in Philadelphia, USA that really revealed my potential for painting. It also encouraged me to continue in a new, much freer style.

I especially find Gustav Klimt’s use of patterns and different surfaces very revolutionary and impressive, and sometimes combine patterns, and both realistic and abstract forms in my paintings.

The conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots didn’t begin until the late 1950s, becoming catastrophic in 1963. Much of my artwork reflects my happy childhood memories, and a longing for our shared culture and peaceful past.