Bio
İlke Şahin (b. 1992, Istanbul) is a London-based artist working across sculpture, installation, and film. Her practice develops through skin reactions, surface relations, material experiments, and chemistry. Working with eco-resin, clay, silicone, and copper, she creates reactive skin-surfaces, bodily fragments, and preserved specimen-like forms inspired by wounds, scars, skin conditions, and bodily states. Approaching both living and non-living entities as bodies capable of acting, reacting, protecting, and negotiating their conditions, Şahin's work is informed by phenomenology of perception and vital materialism. She completed her MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2024, following a BA in Interior Architecture at Istanbul Technical University in 2016.
Artist Statement
In my art practice, I work across sculpture, installation, and film. My work develops through skin reactions, surface relations, material experiments, and chemistry. I approach skin and bodily gestures through the bodily states of both living and non-living entities.
My recent works take the form of reactive skins, sections of tissue, bodily fragments, and preserved specimens. I work with eco-resin, clay, silicone, and copper, creating surfaces inspired by wounds, scars, and skin conditions. My sculptures move through stages of development and deterioration: solidifying, liquefying, corroding, oxidising, and decaying.
In my formal research, I begin with somatic memory and focus on illness, injury, wound response, and anatomical and chemical defence mechanisms as bodily states: how a body acts, reacts, communicates, protects, or negotiates its condition. My theoretical research revolves around phenomenology of perception and vital materialism, which allow me to approach multi-sensory perception, touch, and matter as active forces.
Education
2022-2024 Goldsmiths University, London Masters in Fine Art, Pass with Distinction
2018-2020 Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir Masters in Art and Design, GPA: 4/4
2010-2016 Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul BSc in Interior Architecture, GPA: 3.08/4
Exhibitions and Events
August 2026 VG Rites #1: AŞURE, Various Grounds Collective at Greatorex Strees, London,
April 2026 SEDULOUS, LumiNoir Art Gallery, London, Curator: Jonathan Hillson at Greatorex Street, London
March 2026 POND, duo show with Daisy Dickens at Greatorex Street, London
Feb 2026 VG Rites #0: HEDIK, Various Grounds Collective at FILET, London
Oct 2024 In Days of Heatwave II: Among the Hydrocommons at Safehouse, London • Curators: Emre Ataman and Oli Mardon
July 2024 Goldsmiths MFA Degree Show, London
May 2023 Entwined Intimacies at Hartslane, London, co-curated with Jiwon Yoo, Nathaniel Trost, and Shira Bar
Feb 2023 Taste the Difference II of Loess Collective at Hypa Studios, London, Curators: Evie Banks, Margherita Ghella, and Susana Lopez
Jan 2023 Taste the Difference I of Loess Collective at Hypa Studios, London, Curators: Evie Banks, Margherita Ghella, and Susana Lopez
Nov 2020 BASE New Artist Platform, Istanbul, Curator: Derya Yücel
April 2018 Mamut Art Project, Istanbul
Awards
2025 Aesthetica Art Prize 2025 - longlisted and featured
2024 The Warden's Prize - winner
ACME Early Career Award - shortlisted
Almacantar Studio Award - shortlisted
2016 MEKAN National Interior Architecture Students Graduation Project Competition - first prize
2015 Bornova Town Hall Architectural Design Competition - second prize
2014 Amsterdam Light Festival Competition - finalist
Art Programmes and Residencies
2019 Daire Artist Residency, Çanakkale • Selected participant artist at K2 Contemporary Art Association, Tutor: Nezaket Ekici
2018 - 2019 Istanbul Biennial Production and Research Programme, Istanbul • Researcher artist at Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) Coordinator: Zeyno Pekünlü, Mentor: Deniz Gül
Publications
2020 Article: The Re-definition of Haptic Concept with the Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty • Phainomena Journal of Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind, Issue 3, September-December
2020 MA Thesis: Haptic Art Object in the Context of Phenomenology of Perception • Advisor: Prof. Simber Rana Atay, Dokuz Eylul University, Art and Design
Press
Curatory Magazine Vol. 12 https://www.curatorymagazine.com/post/i%CC%87lke-%C5%9Fahin
Aesthetica Magazine 2025 https://artprize.aestheticamagazine.com/projects/ilke-sahin/