Reb Ayşe Geduk (they/she) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and seamster located in Buffalo, 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.
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 people.
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, their practice has long been an exploratory journey in processing a tumultuous upbringing. 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*
