ESRA YILDIRIM

Esra Yıldırım is on view with her new solo exhibition “Artık Bilmiyorum” at Galeri Soyut Hall B between 31 October – 12 November 2025. Yıldırım invites the viewer to a silent inner transformation in a universe where the boundaries between human and nature gradually blur and emotion transcends words. The starting point of the exhibition is formed by the artist's following statement: “I no longer know what love means. Or where the body ends and the earth begins.”

“Artık Bilmiyorum” addresses the concepts of body, nature, motif, and transformation, which hold a central place in Yıldırım's art, with a new sensory depth. The artist questions the permeable bond between human and nature through a visual language where figures and motifs intertwine. The figures in the works blend into the texture of nature with a soft light and delicate patterns; as if they were tapestries re-woven by the hands of nature. In this process, Yıldırım establishes a narrative that goes beyond form, inviting the viewer to feel and understand intuitively, beyond merely seeing.

Yıldırım's works create not only an aesthetic experience, but also an existential space of inquiry. “Artık Bilmiyorum” is positioned at a threshold where love, the self, and the relationship established with nature change shape. While tracing emotions that extend beyond words, the artist makes human fragility and unity in the face of nature visible at the same time. In this respect, the exhibition turns into a state of awareness where knowing is replaced by intuition, and explanation by silence.

Born in Bursa in 1984, Esra Yıldırım completed her undergraduate education at Uludağ University as the top ranking student, and subsequently received her master's degree from Karadeniz Technical University and her doctorate degree from Marmara University. Currently working as an Associate Professor at Bartın University, the artist's works are included in the collections of IMOGA and the Cyprus Museum of Modern Arts, and she has works in the collections of institutions such as Vakıfbank and ETI. Having previously realized exhibitions such as The Empath’s Survival Guide (2024), Only Love (2022), and Origin (2021), Yıldırım marks a new phase in her art with “Artık Bilmiyorum” — a space of still being able to feel, beyond knowing.

ARTIK BİLMİYORUM

I no longer know what love means.
Or where the body ends and the earth begins.
I used to give a name to everything — now I just listen.
Love transforms us silently; it breaks the form, then rebuilds it.
What does love turn us into?
Perhaps it returns us to our state before knowing language —
our state that thinks with the skin and speaks with its silence.
Traces of emotions spilling beyond words:
a gaze, a feather, a breath, a touch...
all remember the time before understanding.
Perhaps art is the last place where it is still possible not to know.
Perhaps the true form of compassion is there.
I no longer know —
and perhaps this is the most honest sentence I have ever uttered.