Four Artists, One Garden: Rooted: The Garden Within Exhibition
Opening at Şule Gazioğlu Gallery
26 February - 19 March 2026
Rooted: The Garden Within foregrounds the emotional and psychological bond between human beings and the natural world, positioning nature as the mind and body’s oldest companion, a silent mirror of inner states, and a tactile trace of memory. Upon entering the space, viewers are invited to rediscover their relationship with nature while embarking on an introspective journey of their own.
Curated by Şule Gazioğlu and with the advisory support from Ece Balcıoğlu , the exhibition transforms the gallery into a timeless, nostalgic garden. Designed to evoke shared memories, lost recollections, and childhood impressions, the scenography brings together photography, botanical painting, sculpture, and textile. Across these disciplines, nature emerges not merely as an environmental reality, but as a formative and transformative force shaping the human psyche.
Among the highlights are works by internationally acclaimed contemporary botanical artist Işık Güner and award-winning photographer Annette Louise Solakoğlu, recipient of Gold and Silver medals in the Nature categories of the London International Photography Awards and the International Photography Awards. Together, their practices invite audiences to experience nature through both scientific rigor and aesthetic contemplation.
Güner approaches plants not simply as aesthetic motifs but as scientifically documented species. Grounded in field observation, herbarium records, and scholarly research, her meticulous watercolors render plants’ morphological characteristics with precision. Focusing particularly on native species, her works form a quiet visual archive of biodiversity, opening a knowledge-based reflection on the fragility of ecosystems. On view are selections from Turkish Irises, the Lilies series developed during her 2025 journey to Japan, and new works produced in untouched habitats—each presenting nature as carefully observed and faithfully recorded.
Solakoğlu, by contrast, reveals the sculptural architecture, transparency, and layered depth of plants through a scanning-based photographic process. Inspired by the compositional discipline of the Dutch Old Masters, she engages the concept of memento mori to reflect on vitality, transience, and fragility. Her Botanica series and photographs centered on Istanbul gardens highlight both the tonal richness and sensorial abundance of the natural world, including new color works produced specifically for the exhibition. Rather than operating in opposition, the two artists converge through a shared commitment to attentive observation and documentation. Güner’s scientific precision meets Solakoğlu’s layered explorations of time and space, uniting the measurable and the experiential dimensions of nature. Extending from Istanbul to London, Rooted: The Garden Within reinterprets local botanical knowledge and garden culture within an international framework, offering viewers both intellectual insight and an эстетically immersive reminder of their own “inner garden.”
With over 28 years of experience in floral design, Yunus Karma presents his Kintsugi Moss Sculpture collection, inspired by the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi. Combining shock-preserved real moss with vessels that once served different functions, Karma transforms botanical form into a bodily and spatial experience. Reinterpreting the craftsmanship of cultural heritage through a contemporary lens, his sculptural installations invite viewers to circulate around and inhabit the work, encountering nature as something tactile, instinctual, and embodied. Sustainability remains central to Karma’s practice; by combining diverse materials with florals in enduring compositions, he creates timeless spatial concepts.
Textile designer Elena Tash contributes works that reflect nature’s rhythms, textures, and intuitive flow through materiality and handcraft. Drawing on vintage and antique fabrics, mythological references, and artisanal techniques, her practice merges nature with cultural memory and inner experience. In her work, symbols and signs emerge as layered fields of meaning, each image open to reinterpretation through the viewer’s personal lens.
Rather than constructing contrasts between artistic practices, Rooted: The Garden Within advances through a shared mode of attention and observation. Nature is approached as an emotional and psychological framework; vegetal forms become carriers of memory and identity, while organic growth and rhythm resonate with intuitive human responses. In the multilayered dialogue between painting, photography, sculpture, and textile, the exhibition invites viewers not only to see nature, but to feel it.
As the first stop in an exhibition journey extending from Istanbul to London, Rooted: The Garden Within at Şule Gazioğlu Gallery opens a space to reconsider nature as an “inner garden” rooted in both individual and collective memory.
About Annette Louise Solakoğlu
Annette Louise Solakoğlu is a New York–based Swedish-German photographer and filmmaker. Her works have been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries and have received numerous awards. In 2020 she won the IPA Silver Award and the Julia Margaret Cameron Award in the self-portrait category. Her recent portrait series Faces/Graces was presented in a solo exhibition at Balter Gallery in New York and at Garrison Art Center, and was acquired for the permanent collection of the Putnam History Museum. Over the past decade, Solakoğlu has taught at Vassar College and Boston University. She holds a degree from the Berlin University of the Arts and an MFA from Boston University.
About Elena Tash
Elena Tash is a craft-based designer from the Ural–Altai region. Her fascination with rare textiles and mythological symbols, rooted in childhood memories, evolved into the fashion label Onsitsa. Within this practice, historical memory and tradition play a defining role, harmonising with surrounding cultures and environments. Her work generates a field rich in signs, symbols and associations, where each image acquires meaning through the viewer's personal experience.
About Işık Güner
Born in 1983, Işık Güner is a Turkish botanical artist and illustrator. After graduating from Marmara University's Department of Environmental Engineering, she devoted herself fully to botanical art. Working primarily in watercolour, she renders plants with scientific precision. Known for her long-term contributions to international projects such as Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile, Güner has received Gold Medals and Best in Show awards at exhibitions in London and Edinburgh. Her works are held in prestigious collections including the Shirley Sherwood Collection in London and the Hunt Institute in the United States. She currently teaches at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Her instructional book Botanical Illustration from Life has been published in multiple languages, and she is regarded as a leading voice in international botanical art.
About Yunus Karma
Born in Istanbul in 1982, Yunus Karma is a contemporary floral artist who expands floral design beyond its traditional boundaries into installation, conceptual art and site-specific production. With over 28 years of experience working with flowers and plants, he has developed a distinctive artistic language centred on texture, colour, contrast and ephemerality. His exhibition Bugünden Düne at ITU Rectorate Art Gallery marked the first public presentation of his practice. He continues to produce large-scale installations in public spaces including the Ortaköy Orphanage, Istanbul Airport ArtWist, Beşiktaş Garden Flower Festival and Müze Gazhane.
In 2008 he was named Turkey's best floral designer by a prestigious French floral magazine and was photographed by Martin Parr for inclusion in the book Masters of Istanbul. Invited to international flower festivals in the United States, Belgium, Italy, Russia and France, Karma is recognised as Turkey's first and only floral artist to present comprehensive flower exhibitions at this scale, and continues to pass on his expertise through educational programmes.
