Bio:
Reb Ayşe Geduk (they/she) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and seamster located in Queens, NY. For them, the act of making is essential to their being. Learning through experimentation, teaching and exchanging handcrafts has fueled their practice from the start. Themes of memory, displacement, sexuality and belonging crop up in their work, expressed through sculpture, performance and installation. In contrast, their approach to garment construction and design has been a grounding experience where they have been carefully building a new craft.
Initially, their goal was to keep their hands busy by learning a new skill to address a lack they continually encountered in the world of retail: imaginative, sustainable, and comfortable clothing for the plus-sized figure. Learning more deeply about the tradition of sewing, has led to a heightened awareness of the environmental and labor rights associated with the over-consumption of clothing promoted by the fashion industry. In order to combat this, Reb’s approach to creating centers around minimal waste, reuse of materials and the search for deadstock and secondhand fibers. They also see sewing as an entryway into creating a bountiful sharing economy - in which humans can trade their skills and creations to keep clothing from ending up in landfills.
Art has always been a means of connection and integral to their process. Creating accessible spaces for everybody to express their creativity is as important to them as their own work. Working with groups like Politits Art Coalition, Reb has curated low-cost annual exhibitions showcasing the work of other LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists from all over the globe. Featured in Rochester Contemporary’s 2019 exhibition The State of the City, Reb and other members of ASSROC facilitated a city-wide conversation on the economic sustainability for arts workers in the Greater Rochester Area. These efforts, paired with teaching intentionally affordable workshops in natural dyes, printmaking, bookbinding and photography are the bedrock of Reb’s beliefs in how the arts can truly serve the peop
Statement:
As a conceptual artist, Reb Ayşe is fascinated with stretching the limits in traditional media. Their approach to creating begins with the medium. As an adoptee with mixed heritage, they use their practice to reconcile a tumultuous upbringing by reclaiming their own narrative. Their installations, made from photographs abstracted and printed on secondhand bedsheets or illustrations screen-printed with plant-based dyes sewn into soft objects aim to bring the viewer back to their adolescence; feeling small and grasping for comfort beneath these fabric hangings. Using soft, inviting materials, Reb lulls viewers into a state of familiarity, to reexamine the meaning of belonging.
Contact Reb below for ideas and quotes in private lessons, commission work and more*
