Aslı Özçelik is a Cologne-based artist who uses photography, video, sound, textiles and installation to capture intimate moments and empower marginalized voices. Her work is autobiographical and reflects her experiences and socialization as a woman. She has published two photo books with Eigensinn Verlag and exhibited at the Kunstmuseum Ahlen, the Kunstmuseum Celle and the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, among others. In 2024, she completed her bachelor's degree in photography at the Folkwang University of the Arts and began her master's degree there. Aslı is currently supported in her artistic career by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
Sıhhatler Olsun
2023/2025
Photo book “Sıhhatler Olsun,” thread binding, 2023, 20x15cm
15x inkjet prints, untitled, 2025, framed, unframed, partly fixed to thread.
2x 70x50cm, 80x60cm, 2x 50x35cm, 100x70cm, 60x45cm, 60x40cm, 7x 10x15cm
11x textile print, untitled, 2025
135x300cm, 135x100cm, 3x 20x24cm, 3x 20x36cm, 3x 20x48cm
In “Sıhhatler Olsun”, Özçelik looks at the migration history of her family, especially that of her mother. In her photographic conceptual working method and in the form of a documentary narrative, she deals installatively with the intimacy, the loss, the personal experiences of her mother, who came to Germany from northeastern Turkey at the age of 20.
This identity story, which focuses in particular on the female “guest workers”, shows the urgency of dealing with the past of entire generations of “guest worker” families in Germany.
Multi-layered perspectives are offered not only by the various material materials she uses in her work to express emotions and culture, but also in particular by the family archive and translated handwritten letters from her Anne (Turkish for mother).
