Gamze Öztürk
About the artist
Gamze Öztürk is a Turkish performance artist currently based in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands. She is focusing on live art, installation art, and lens-based media. She
investigates symbols and motifs used by Anatolian women and explores their hidden
poetic language in handicrafts, such as rugs, carpets, embroideries, and hair. Her aim is to
explore a method that translates female non-verbal languages across different disciplines,
to show ancient rituals that have been preserved for hundreds of years.
She has a bachelor in Art and Design and postgraduate in ‘Studio Oyuncuları’
Performative Staging – Acting Academy in Istanbul. She exhibited her work o.a. at the
Venice International Performance Art Week at the European Culture Centre in Venice, P.S.
Performance Site in The Hague and DOOResidency in Amsterdam. She is currently doing
a master at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) in the Netherlands.
Project Description: The performance Eli Belinde / Hands-on-Hips is inspired by the
enchanting Anatolian carpet motif bearing the same name. In her performance-installation
she is using spindles, human hair and tattoos on her body making a narrative-like structure
from pre-patriarchal shamanic rituals out of Anatolia. Her performance is part of a wider
research in performative languages and ancient rituals in Eastern cultures. The
performance is part of her ongoing series “Fertile Crescent,” that will unfold over the
coming years.