Fatoş Irwen’s practice examines issues related to justice, power dynamics, belief systems, geography, and body politics. She creates works that focus on the effects of these matters on the individual and society in various fields such as video, photography, painting, textile, installation and performance.

Irwen’s works on paper, installations, performances, and films operate at the intersection of self and world, subject and society. Employing modest materials such as paper, tea, and hair, she constructs subtle yet powerful poetic metaphors and narratives. These mundane objects, drawn from childhood trauma and personal life experiences, become vessels of memory, transforming her practice into an intimate form of autobiography and self-portraiture.

A persistent striving for freedom defines Fatoş İrwen’s practice, foregrounding her lifelong resistance to oppression and systemic constraints. As an artist and activist, İrwen was imprisoned in Diyarbakır Prison for political reasons from 2017 to 2020, where she continued to produce her works with the means available to her. 

Fatoş İrwen (Diyarbakır, Turkey) She received her bachelor's degree in visual art department in Dicle University, Diyarbakır. Her solo shows include: Improper (Galerie Stadtpark, Krems, 2024), Sûr (Zilberman Berlin, 2023), and Exceptional Times (curated by Ezgi Bakçay and Wenda Koyuncu, held simultaneously in Karşı Sanat and DEPO Istanbul in 2021). Her selected group shows include: The Sky Was Candy (curated by: Selen Ansen, Arter, İstanbul, Turkey, 2026), Cruising Territories (curated by: Ece Ateş and Lusin Reinsch, Zilberman Berlin, 2026), Folia (curated by: Selen Ansen and Eda Berkmen, Abdülmecid Efendi Mansion, İstanbul, Turkey, 2025), Us.19 Fundemental Rights. 19 Artistic Positions. (curated by Kristina Volke, Art Council of the German Bundestag, 2025), Böse Blumen (Evil Flowers) (curated by Kyllikki Zacharias, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany, 2024), Unfair Game (curated by Pınar Öğrenci, EXILE, Vienna, 2023), I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too? (curated by Selen Ansen, Meşher, Istanbul, 2022), All Water Falls into Language (curated by Naz Kocadere, İstanbul Edebiyat Evi, 2022), Look Up, Starry Horizons of the Limited Geography (curated by Yekhan Pınarlıgil, Gölyazı Kültürevi and Balat Kültürevi, Bursa, 2022), 5th International Mardin Biennial (curated by Adwait Singh, 2022), Of Paper (curated by: Selin Akın, Ferda Art Platform, Istanbul, 2021), Art in Dark Times (organized by bi’bak, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, 2020), Heritage / Matrimonio (curated by Gudrun Wallenböck, Gallery Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, 2019), Not What You Think! (Hinterland Galerie, Vienna, 2018), Post-Peace (curated by Katia Krupennikova, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 2017).