Guler Ates

An exploration into the bewildering experience of displacement lies at the heart of Guler Ates’ rich and complex photographic work. Often made in locations that fuse Middle Eastern exoticism and Victorian propriety, these images also explore the artist’s own feelings of duality and her Eastern heritage. Key themes include elements of concealment and exposure, pattern and motif and the emotive issue of the veiled woman. Sensual, rich and complex, Ates’ photographs are deeply immersive and take the viewer into a complex and contained world in which there is a strong sense of an unfolding theatrical narrative.

Guler Ates was born in 1977 in Turkey and currently lives and works in London.

Education
2006-08 Royal College of Art, MA Fine Art; Printmaking, London
2001-04 Wimbledon School of Art, BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art; Painting, London
2000-01 Lewisham College, BTEC Diploma Foundation Studies in Art and Design, London
1996-98 University of Marmara, Fine Art; Painting. Istanbul

Solo Exhibitions
Present and Absent, Great Fosters, Egham, 2011
No past is mine, no future: look at me! Leighton House Museum, London, 2010
Fusion, Gallery Point-1, Okinawa, Japan, 2010
Veiled Mozaic, The LOFT at the Lower Parel, Mumbai, 2009
Projects at Christ Church Spitalfields, London, 2005

Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
Orientations, Hoxton Art Gallery, London
Photography's New "it" Girls, Marcelle Joseph Projects, London
Draw Together, Jeannie Avent Gallery (Associated with Dulwich Picture Gallery), London
Samvaad, FICA Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, New Delhi, India
2010
Bloomberg New Contemporaries Archive Films, ICA, London
Prints of the City, Free Museum of Dallas, US
Home, Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Zspace, Okinawa, Japan
Group Show, Galleria Progresso, London
2009
Indian Summer, Hastings Museum and Gallery, Hastings
IAS, New Delhi, India
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Rencontres Internationales de la Photo, Institut Français de Fès, Morocco
TBA, New Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, USA
2008
New Prints from Royal College of Arts, Royal Academy of Arts, London
10: The Chris Orr Years, Royal College of Arts, London
New Contemporaries, Touring exhibition: Liverpool and London
Beyond Borders, Holster Project Space, London
Real Presence, The House of Legacy, Belgrade
Indian Art Summit 08, New Delhi, India
Salon Summer Show, The Salon Gallery, London
Real Presence, Remont Gallery, Belgrade
2007
There and Back Again, Hockney Gallery, London
Ensemble(s) ll, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
Re-Formation, Christ Church Spitalfields, London
Over and Over Again, Sadler’s Wells, London
Art Video Screening, Vasteras, Sweden
Detroit 10th International Film/Video Festival, Museums of New Art, (MONA), Michigan
2006
Peace Camp, The Brick Lane Gallery, London
Secrets, Gulbenkian Gallery, RCA, London
The Vision of the Nunnery, The Nunnery Gallery, London
2005
I.D, Group Show, Crescent Arts, Scarborough
Looking Glass, Group show, Waterloo Gallery, London
Three Sixteen, Group Show, Candid Arts, London
Island Art Film & Video Festival ’05, Prenelle Gallery, London
2004
TAKE 04, Group Show, Wimbledon School of Art, London
The Launch of Creative Cultures, Merton Council, London
If u want my body, Wimbledon Library Gallery, London
2003
Identity, Guildford Arts, Guildford

Residency/Awards
Film and Video Umbrella, Nominated for Tomorrow Never Knows Moving image Award, 2011
Leighton House Museum, London, April – September 2010
The Loft at the Lower Parel, Mumbai and Arts Reverie, Ahmedabad, India, July 2009
The Foundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain, Oct-Nov 2008
Matthew Wrightson Award, 2008
The Cite Internationale Des Arts, Paris, Apr – June 2007
Shortlisted (1 of 6) for 20/21 Century Art prize

Publications
Bosphorus Art Newspaper (In September 2010 Issue), An Artist interview, National, Turkey HaberTürk, Turkish National Newspaper, 28 July 2009
15er, National, UK, 2008
New Contemporaries 08, National, UK

Collections
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, Print Collection, London, UK
The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) Library, Portland, USA
Video Library, Crisp Gallery, LA, USA
Royal College of Art, London, UK

Professional Engagements
Royal Academy Schools, Present - Oct 2008, Digital Print Tutor
Oreet Ashery and Güler Ates in Conversation: Identity Politics in Contemporary Art, 2011
Leighton House Museum, London, UK, Artist Talk, 2010
Bhavan Centre (Indian Art Institute for Art and Culture), Artist Talk, 2010
University of Hertfordshire, Visiting Lecture (including Artist Talk),2008

• Royal Academy of Arts