Gözde İlkin is an artist who works with used and found domestic textiles that reflect social and cultural identity. Her embroidered motifs and drawings on fabrics serve as archives of todays’ memory, addressing questions of belonging, borders, family, and gender.

İ̇lkin (b. 1981, Kütahya, Turkey) completed her undergraduate degree in the Painting Department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2004 and her graduate degree in Painting at Marmara University Fine Arts in 2012. She lives and works in Istanbul.

Her selected solo exhibitions include Invisible Bonds, Companion Roots, curated by Joana P.R. Neves, PARIS-B, Paris (2023); The Eye of the Earth, The Mouth of the Ground, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2022); Entrusted Ground, curated by Duygu Demir, .artSümer Gallery, Istanbul (2022); and MAC VAL Garden: As the roots spoke, the cracks deepen, as part of the collection exhibition, Persona grata?, curated by Alexia Fabre, MAC/VAL Museum, Paris (2019).

Most recent group shows include In Real Time, curated by Maya Allison, co-curator Duygu Demir, NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2024); Venedigsche Sterne, curated by Susann Wintsch and Stephan Kunz, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland (2022); Rooted Beings, curated by Barbara Rodriguez Munoz, Wellcome Collection, London (2022); It’s Just a Phase, curated by Rhea Dall and Elmgreen & Dragset, Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst, Trodheim, Norway (2021); Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennial, curated by Defne Ayas and Natasha Ginwala, South Korea (2021); and a good neighbour, 15th Istanbul Biennial curated by Elmgreen and Dragset, Pera Museum, Istanbul (2017).

She has participated in artist residencies at the Water Mill Centre, New York; IASPIS Konstnärsnämnden, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Stockholm; MAC VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris; Pioneer Works, New York; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; and Künstlerhaus Bremen. Between 2006 and 2013, together with Gülçin Aksoy and Yasemin Nur, she ran the artists’ initiative Atıl Kunst.