Biography

Nazli Efe (b. 1989) grew up in Turkey and Cyprus holding both nationalities. She studied Architecture at Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, and Virginia Tech University in Washington DC. After working in creative industries for 5 years she completed her MFA at Pratt Institute in 2022 with high honors. She is an interdisciplinary artist making installations, sculptures, and performances that focus on the characteristics of Water, the unconscious mind, and memory.

Nazli exhibited at RAINRAIN Gallery, the Sotheby's Institute of Art, Long Island City Artists, and Field Projects and had an online show at the New Art Dealers Alliance. She received the Stutzman Family Foundation Sculpture Award, Special Recognition, and Pratt Outstanding Merit Award. Her works have been featured in Hyperallergic and Whitehot Magazines. She attended the Pratt>Forward Residency Program in 2024. Nazli is a Member Artist at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program in New York.

Statement

Being half Turkish, a country surrounded by Water on three sides, and half Cypriot; an island in the Mediterranean Sea; Nazli grew up constantly interacting with Water.

Water is a ritualistic, meditative, and performative medium that allows Nazli Efe to access her unconscious mind and manifest the emotional presence of memory in her work. She is influenced by molybdomancy, a centuries-old divination method in Turkey practiced by interpreting the shapes formed when molten lead is dropped into Water. In her recent studies, she creates artifacts of personal history and emergent psychic objects by dropping molten wax into Water. The amorphous wax forms shaped by the Water resemble the Rorschach test evoking her memories.

In her latest body of work, Nazli deals with the idea of preserving her recollections by utilizing culinary techniques. She uses vacuum-sealed bags, beeswax, and salt to preserve her memories.

Nazli discusses the dialogue between immateriality and materiality, permanence, and ephemerality from a mystical aspect. Her installations include material experimentation, Nazli transforms materials in an alchemical way referencing the ever-changing quality of memories. Memory follows form and form follows memory.