İrem Yüksekbilgili

In her works, she addresses the issue of animals and aims to make human-caused destruction visible. The pressure created by the system established through the animal body arises from concepts of domination, speciesism, and commodification. This pressure is rooted in the idea of human superiority — determining which species we should love, which we should eat, and which we should be disgusted by — while also using animals as goods and resources for profit.

In contrast, she believes that animals are individuals with intrinsic, not instrumental, value. She advocates for a more just and holistic way of life, instead of a system where the powerless are marginalized, their rights ignored, and even enslaved.

She takes care to make ethical choices in her productions, preferring alternatives such as plant-based soap, imitation leather, and synthetic wool. She also transforms industrial materials developed for and used in the livestock sector into art objects, redirecting the viewer’s thinking by removing them from their original purpose. Her artistic practice is largely shaped by her personal experiences and by her interactions with animals through volunteer work with civil society organizations focused on animal rescue.

İrem Yüksekbilgili was born in Ankara in 2000 and studied at the Department of Painting, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. She lives and works in Ankara. Selected exhibitions: 'Göz Teması | Eye Contact', Büyükdere35 (in collaboration with Sanata Bi Yer), İstanbul, 2024.