Meet Ozlem Yeni
Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ozlem Yeni. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ozlem, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
First of all, thank you to CanvasRebel for this opportunity and for inviting me for a second conversation. It’s truly a pleasure to reconnect and share more about my work.
One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was my solo exhibition in Australia titled “Who are we? Who were we? Who will we be? Under construction…”.
The exhibition grew out of a very personal period in my life. After moving from Türkiye to Australia, I found myself living between two emotional landscapes. On one side, there was the excitement of discovering a new culture, new people, and new ways of living. On the other side, there was a quiet but persistent longing for the places, memories, and relationships I had left behind. That in-between state- between past and present, between departure and arrival- became the emotional ground of the exhibition.
Canvas Rebel, March 26, 2026
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An Inspired Chat with Ozlem Yeni of Phoenix
We recently had the chance to connect with Ozlem Yeni and have shared our conversation below.
Ozlem , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When I open the door to my studio, it feels as though I’ve stepped into a different dimension of time and space. The studio becomes a kind of laboratory—one where life is slowly transformed into art. Inside, time loosens its grip. I can be fully present in the moment while simultaneously drifting through memory, or feeling connected to places far beyond the room I’m standing in.
This is where I lose track of time—thinking, testing, layering, and allowing ideas to take form without urgency. What brings me back is often something simple and grounding: the sound of my phone ringing, or my cat meowing insistently outside the door, asking to be let in. These small interruptions gently return me to the present, reminding me that while time flows differently in the studio, it still moves forward in the world beyond it.
BOLD Journey, January 22, 2026
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Meet Ozlem Yeni
We were lucky to catch up with Ozlem Yeni recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ozlem, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I’d like to start by thanking Bold Journey for this wonderful opportunity to reflect on and share my story. I can say that I found my purpose in life at a very young age, the moment I was introduced to art. Although I didn’t fully understand what art truly meant back then, I was vividly aware of the emotions it stirred in me. I still remember picking the brightest red crayon from my set and creating murals on the walls of our home, completely immersed in joy. That feeling has stayed with me ever since.
BOLD Journey, February 4, 2025
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Meet Ozlem Yeni
We were lucky to catch up with Ozlem Yeni recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ozlem, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my story. I truly appreciate the work CanvasRebel does in providing artists and creatives with a platform to connect and inspire others. It’s an honor to be featured and to contribute to this vibrant community.
CanvasRebel, December 20, 2024
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Life & Work with Ozlem Yeni of Phoenix
Today we’d like to introduce you to Ozlem Yeni
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Thank you for the opportunity to share my story with Voyage Phoenix. My journey as an artist began in my childhood in Turkey. From a young age, I found great joy and comfort in painting. Art became a language for me—a way to express my feelings and thoughts when words were not enough. This passion for creativity led me to pursue a formal education in the arts. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Honors) in painting and later a Master’s and Ph.D. in Theatre Stage Design and Construction.
VoyagePhoenix, October 2, 2024
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Night and Day: A creative meeting of minds
An unsent fan letter, the discovery of a 30-year-old magazine in a dusty archive of craft journals in Mount Isa, and a final creative meeting of minds lie behind the exhibition of celebrated ceramicist Petrus Spronk at The Main Gallery in Halifax Street.
In 2016, Özlem Yeni, a Turkish artist, university lecturer and set designer, lands in the dusty heat of the mining town of Mount Isa in Queensland and decides to enrol in some clay workshops.
InDaily, Jun 7, 2022
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Engraving culture: Turkish mirrors and the gutsy gallery owner that created them
Turkish artist and gallery owner Ozlem Yeni has a huge appetite for life, seemingly boundless confidence, and the courage to open her Halifax Street location, The Main Gallery, on the day the city went into lockdown in November 2020.
A former lecturer in performing arts and stage design, Yeni says the gallery focuses on the art of culturally diverse groups, bridging countries and people.
On The Record, November 25, 2021
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Introducing The Main Gallery: An arts space connecting Adelaide and Izmir
Turkish-born visual artist Ozlem Yeni has launched The Main Gallery, a contemporary art gallery and studio space in the CBD connecting her two homes of Australia and Turkey.
“I am still in contact with my Turkish friends – the galleries and artists – and am thinking we can send the artists’ pieces over there and they can send their pieces here as an exchange,” Ozlem Yeni tells CityMag.
“I want the gallery to be a bridge between two countries, because Turkey and Adelaide’s art scenes are similar but also quite different.”
CityMag, November 26, 2020
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Avustralya’da galeri açan ilk Türk sanatçı, Özlem Aliyazıcıoğlu Yeni oldu
Türkiye’de ve dünyanın farklı ülkelerinde açtığı sergilerde eserlerini sanat severlerle buluşturduktan sonra Avustralya’ya yerleşen sanatçı Özlem Aliyazıcıoğlu Yeni, ülkede galeri açan ilk Türk sanatçısı oldu.
Akit, 2020-11-17
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Artist Ozlem Yeni designs backdrop canvas for Mount Isa Blast
Turkish-born visual artist Ozlem Yeni has launched The Main Gallery, a contemporary art gallery and studio space in the CBD connecting her two homes of Australia and Turkey.
The North West STAR, June 20 2019
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Turkish born artist Ozlem Yeni invites us to her stunning studio
The studio of Turkish born artist Ozlem Yeni could be one of the most beautiful, serene spots in Mount Isa.
The North West STAR, August 29 2017
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MASKE-siz-İZ’ ilginizi çekecek
Konak Belediyesi İzmir Mask Müzesi kapılarını İzmirli sanatseverlere Ressam Özlem Aliyazıcıoğlu’nun “MASKE-siz-İZ” konulu resim sergisi ile açtı.
Serpil Birsin’in koordinatörlüğünde düzenlenen serginin açılışını Konak Belediye Başkanı Dr. Hakan Tartan ve Özlem Aliyazıcıoğlu birlikte yaptı. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi Sahne Sanatları Bölümü Araş. Gör. Dr. Özlem Aliyazıcıoğlu’nun ‘maske takmak’ kavramı üzerinden yola çıkarak oluşturduğu sergisi konuklar tarafından ilgiyle izlendi. Aliyazıcıoğlu sergiyle ilgili şunları söyledi: “‘Geçmiş çağlarda farklı amaçlar için kullanılmış olan ‘maske’, çağdaş insanın ise kullanmadığını söylediği ‘maske’, maske-siz-miyi? Yoksa ‘maske’nin kendisi miyiz’, ‘maske’yi günlük yaşamımızın içerisinde nerede ve nasıl kullanıyoruz’, kullandığımızın farkında mıyız, yoksa artık ‘maske’nin kendisine mi dönüştük’, kimliklerimiz kadar mı ‘maske’lerimiz’, ‘maske’lerimizin arkasında rahat mıyız’’ “
Ege Postası, 2012-11-12
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