Ceren Iren

Ceren İren (1991, Şişli) completed her undergraduate studies in the Painting Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2014. She then began her graduate studies in the Basic Art and Design program within the Department of Basic Education at the same university and earned her degree in 2017 with a thesis titled "The Insect Form in Art from the 20th Century to the Present." In 2018, she began her proficiency in art program in the same department and completed it in 2024 with her thesis titled "The Relationship Between the Form and Behavior of Bee Societies and Art," which she developed in parallel with her artistic practice.

İren currently works as a research assistant in the Graphic Design Department at Gelişim University and continues her artistic production in her studio located in Galata.

The starting point of her work is the insects she collects while riding her bicycle—an activity that, over time, has evolved into a form of collection. The rhythmic and meditative acts of walking and cycling, which constitute the initial phase of her production process, are part of a physical as well as mental accumulation process that fosters the development of ideas. The resulting works—centered on the forms and behaviors of insects—emerge through the physical assemblage of objects or forms and reflect an intellectual accumulation inspired by nature.

One of the tangible expressions of her ideas on producing through accumulation is honeybees. As a result of her beekeeping experiments, which began in April 2023, honeybees have become the primary focus in her broader insect-centered body of work. The formal and conceptual relationships she draws between the production methods of bees and her own artistic processes reinforce her practice of accumulating through production, while also transforming into metaphorical works that address the social behaviors of bees and collective production.

These works aim to evoke notions of relocation and rebirth, drawing on the swarming rituals of honeybees.