Eden Unluata
Mix media
Variable dimensions/ installation
My works investigate the formation and development of cultural identity. I explore how a society draws conclusions from shared experiences. I investigate this formation and development through a variety of topics, such as, the relationship between place, the sense of belonging, and personal narrative, and how they contribute to the ever-shifting ideas of identity, and culture.
With Memory Markers, I am investigating the relationship between ‘story’ and ‘home’ through my own experiences. It tells my story of finding home through a cross-cultural quest in a non-narrative way.
Memory Markers consist of objects that are mementos, toys, found objects, boxes, random items, and tchotchkes we keep to remind us of stories, travels, moments in life. They have been painted over with blackboard paint which simultaneously blurs personal history, while maintaing the object quality, and at the same time allows the viewer to rewrite the story associated with the object, through simply imagining or by literally writing on them. These objects, while telling my story, also offers other people an opportunity to reflect on your own story. In each case, even though the appropriated content is visible, combined into a new context they generate a new meaning, tell a new story.
BIO
N. Eden Unluata is an interdisciplinary artist, an interdisciplinary designer and an educator. He holds a BID from Middle East Technical University (Turkey), a MFA degree in Graphic Design from Bilkent University (Turkey) and a MA from Department of Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College Chicago. His works investigate the formation of cultural identity and how a society draws conclusions from shared experiences. His intent is to understand the mechanics of cultural identity, highlight problems that evolve from its formation, and stimulate a debate on how to better manage these problems. When the identity of a culture and how it operates is explored in-depth, solutions may reveal themselves. Eden has worked and exhibited in Chicago, IL., Ankara (Turkey), Adana (Turkey), Istanbul (Turkey), Paris (France), and Oberlin OH. He currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.
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