Tuba Köymen
Biographical Note
Tuba Öztekin Köymen is an artist, educator and designer who lives and works in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. She was born in Turkey and graduated in 1995 from the Department of Graphic Design at Bilkent University. In 1999, she was awarded an MFA in Photography and Digital imaging by the Maryland Institute College of Art. Köymen’s art calls attention to human nature by offering candid scenes of everyday life through the media of photography and photo based installations. Working across the gamut of photographic processes—from alternative to digital— Köymen art centers on issues arising from place, culture and social interaction. Her perspective is humanistic and universalizing; she regards these issues to be common territory for all human beings. Köymen has had solo exhibitions locally and internationally in museums and galleries including the Center of Documentary Studies at Duke University, Light Factory (North Carolina), Austin College (Sherman, Texas), and the Museum Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Köymen has organized or assisted in the organization of exhibitions of photography and art—including the Istanbul Biennial-- and has led or participated in workshops, collaborative projects, and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Tuba Öztekin Köymen is an artist, educator and designer who lives and works in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. She was born in Turkey and graduated in 1995 from the Department of Graphic Design at Bilkent University. In 1999, she was awarded an MFA in Photography and Digital imaging by the Maryland Institute College of Art. Köymen’s art calls attention to human nature by offering candid scenes of everyday life through the media of photography and photo based installations. Working across the gamut of photographic processes—from alternative to digital— Köymen art centers on issues arising from place, culture and social interaction. Her perspective is humanistic and universalizing; she regards these issues to be common territory for all human beings. Köymen has had solo exhibitions locally and internationally in museums and galleries including the Center of Documentary Studies at Duke University, Light Factory (North Carolina), Austin College (Sherman, Texas), and the Museum Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Köymen has organized or assisted in the organization of exhibitions of photography and art—including the Istanbul Biennial-- and has led or participated in workshops, collaborative projects, and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.
 Tuba Koymen - Pudding, 2011, Pinhole Photography
|
Artist Statement
I am an artist who works in photography, mixed media, and installation. My body of work and practice addresses the challenges of perception and interpretation. I am particularly concerned with how one’s personal context informs the reading of an object, text, and images.
Being experimental is an important part of my work. Pinhole photography has been very effective for me for some projects. Making different pinhole cameras helped me to understand the vision of a light tight box. I find pinhole cameras like a human mind. It is a closed box that you do not know what will come out when you feed with some information. Every single shot is unique with a pinhole camera. This knowledge made me to treat every single shot carefully and respectfully.
Lately, I am experimenting different materials which has different gestural strength and color with different vitality and vibrancy. I like sewing thick yarns and shaping them like a pottery as simple utilitarian objects, such as plates and bowls. This process is helping me to cherish singularity of identity and in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch.
