Uğur Mine Tamay’s exhibition of 50 paintings opens at Dolmabahçe

An exhibition featuring 50 paintings by artist Uğur Mine Tamay and three works themed around traditional clothing has opened to visitors at the Exhibition Hall of the National Palaces Dolmabahçe Palace Collections Museum. Reflecting her 44-year artistic journey from 1982 to the present, the exhibition will be open through October 18.

The exhibition “Legacy of the Past — From Traces to Horizons,” featuring works by artist Uğur Mine Tamay, has opened at the Exhibition Hall of the National Palaces Dolmabahçe Palace Collections Museum. The exhibition features 50 paintings and three works centered on traditional clothing.

Guests from the worlds of politics, culture and art attended the opening. Speakers emphasized that art is one of the most important characteristics distinguishing human beings from other living creatures and that the cultural traces of Turkish-Islamic civilization are being carried into the future through art.

“Inspiration from the past opens new horizons for the future”

Esengül Korkmaz Çiçekli, deputy governor of Istanbul, said art was important in terms of the relationship people establish with Allah. Korkmaz Çiçekli said fields such as miniature painting, painting and music reflect the traces that Turkish and Muslim identity has left in history, describing the exhibition as one of those traces.

Abdullah Atakan Atasoy, the district governor of Beyoğlu, said understanding the past meant more than simply remembering what had been left behind. Atasoy said the present could be enriched through inspiration drawn from the past and new horizons could be opened for the future, and thanked art lovers who attended the exhibition.

Hüseyin Keskin, Istanbul’s provincial director of culture and tourism, also said the exhibition featured high-quality works. Keskin said it was valuable for art lovers to meet Tamay’s works at such a time.

YÜZAG’s first painting exhibition

Güleser Topuz, chairwoman of YÜZAG, said in remarks before the opening that the movement had five branches in Bursa, Bilecik, Ankara, Trabzon and Şanlıurfa. Topuz said the headquarters was located at the Zal Mahmut Pasha Complex in Istanbul’s Eyüpsultan district and that they carried out initiatives for families and young people.

Topuz said their aim was to serve society and explained that they prepared and implemented projects in solidarity with ministries, universities and other civil society organizations. Saying that YÜZAG operated not as an association but with the understanding of the “Family and Youth Movement of the Century,” Topuz said they would continue their work with the goal of safeguarding the country, nation, state, homeland and flag.

Topuz said they were proud to open YÜZAG’s first painting exhibition and said it had been prepared with works by Uğur Mine Tamay, the movement’s general coordinator for culture and arts and its painter. Topuz said the exhibition was organized with the support and patronage of the National Palaces Administration.

Topuz said Tamay brought traditional and contemporary interpretations together, adding that the artist reflected her faith, past, national history and present through canvas and color. Saying that people should benefit society throughout their lives, Topuz noted that YÜZAG’s headquarters was open to anyone who wanted to work together and exchange ideas.

Traditional arts meet contemporary interpretation

Uğur Mine Tamay said the exhibition featured 50 paintings and three works themed around traditional clothing. Tamay, who describes herself as a contemporary artist, said she reflected traditional elements in her works.

Tamay, who is also YÜZAG’s general art coordinator, said she had continued her work for 44 years since graduating from the academy. The artist said she had participated in numerous exhibitions in Türkiye and abroad, as well as biennials and fairs.

Tamay said she began working with oil paint on canvas and later turned to three-dimensional works, adding that she addressed traditional arts through a contemporary interpretation. The artist said traditional elements could be seen in every work and that the pieces in the exhibition represented a personal synthesis.

Tamay explained that she created a synthesis in her museum-themed works by drawing inspiration from objects at the Topkapı Palace Museum. The artist said she used calligraphy and marbling, Ottoman yağlık textiles, antique objects and handmade paper in her three-dimensional works, adding that she combined papers used in calligraphy and preserved intact for centuries with different materials.

Describing her style as “the real in an abstract space,” Tamay said space and time were ambiguous in her works and that she created a universal and personal synthesis in terms of content. The artist said she hoped visitors would find a part of themselves and their past in the exhibition and invited all art lovers to see it.

Cultural heritage reinterpreted through contemporary painting

The exhibition “Legacy of the Past — From Traces to Horizons” brings together Uğur Mine Tamay’s 44-year artistic journey from 1982 to the present. In the exhibition, a deep-rooted cultural heritage is reinterpreted through the possibilities of contemporary painting.

Tuğras, whirling dervishes, tombak works, tiles, embroidered doors, fabrics, bowls, swords, shields, imperial caiques and figures from different periods go beyond serving as historical elements that tell of the past, becoming components of a new visual arrangement in the works.

Tamay combines elements selected from traditional Turkish arts, particularly calligraphy, marbling and miniature painting, with a modern aesthetic approach. Through this approach, the exhibition seeks to establish a cultural connection between the past and the future.

The exhibition can be visited at the National Palaces Dolmabahçe Palace Collections Museum through October 18.