N: So where does your inspiration come from?

İ: From the feeling of being able to. It could also be about my struggle with myself. I would call it a struggle to prove to myself that I can do it. I have a cycle of this feeling inside me. “I can do it too! I can do better! I can do that too!” I stop when I lose this feeling. And from time to time, I also lose; then I become an inactive, inert person. Sometimes this can also happen after completing a work. For example, my work “Filli Su Saati” (The Elephant Water-Clock). It took two and a half years. During these two and a half years, I missed my friends, my own life, maybe my daughter growing up. These questions are constantly spinning in my head. Then the urge to do it comes again and I start over.

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N: Could this sense of being able be your way of saying to yourself that "I Exist"?

İ: Maybe. Whichever artist says that “I ignore this”; I don't think they’re completely sincere. So if you're putting something out for others to see, then there's also the pursuit of some applause. It's a form of motivation for me. The motivation to prove oneself, to make oneself exist, to show oneself, to be able to say that I could do it...

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N: You are an artist and you create your works with a reflex. Can you do the things that you always wanted? After all, we live in a capitalist system. There are also customers of this business, art lovers. Does someone come and bring you an idea that is not yours and independent of you as a work? What do you feel at times like these? Can you do the work requested from you with the same feeling as you do your own work?

İ: There are times when I have to work like this in order to be able to do my own work and maintain my life. This is not a process that satisfies me so much, but it is a process that I have to. I have to sell part of my profession, so to speak. This means time. So I have to sell my time.

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When an order comes to me as a business, I try to get various data from the other party. For example, if a company wants a work from me; I try to get as much information as possible from company owners. I try to understand the concepts they focus on, how they feel about their company, whether they see their company as male or female, or what kind of character they think of. Then I think about them and this time I make their problems mine. And if possible, I process my own problems with small details. So I create a space where I can be more independent.

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For example, in my work “The Elephant Water-Clock”, there is a bird that I use as a figure. A small ball lands in front of that bird. When the ball lands, a sun rises from outside the circle. This continues periodically. My daughter Güneş was born while I was working on the “Elephant Water-Clock” and my daughter Güneş was on my mind every fifteen minutes. Or the bird figure that I used in the same work… It also represents this country. It's a small detail, but that bird figure has a chain on its foot. By adding such details, I can be more satisfied when I make orders.