(BRAIN-August Issue, 2003)

(Page 83)

A New Perspective and Expression Transcend Cultural Difference

Kimono. Wagasa (Japanese traditional umbrella). Take (bamboo), Origami (folding paper). In the paintings

by Filiz Emma Soyak, which are characterized by her bold original style and colorfulness, you may often Find

those Japanesque elements as their motifs. There is a reason for that. Although she now lives in the Eastern

part of the United States, she once lived in Japan. She was born in Belgium, then she and her family moved

to Japan when she was six years old. She had spent six years in Yokohama and Tokyo. She said she had gone

through many things and gotten influenced a lot by Japanese culture during that period.

"Through the experience of moving several times and visiting many places all over the world, I somehow

could grow the contmstive senses in myself. What I have seen and heard become the sources of my

expression, and little by little I came to understand what I like. Japan especially gives me inspiration in many

ways. Now it's one of the principal elements in my work. While visiting Japan this time, I feel like

experiencing many things by myself. That is, I am refreshing my internal senses while staying in this

country."

Filiz does not limit her artistic activities into a single method of expression. She draws not only oil paintings,

but also aclylic, pastel and watercolor paintings. For some paintings she uses natural materials such as sands

and rice, and for other works she uses origami and washi. By doing so, she is developing the dimension of

her paintings with deeper meaning. "It is quite interesting for me to represent different textures or find subtle

balances in colors" says Filiz.

For the last two years she has been working on the series of paintings named "face". Featuring the imagery

concept of human's lace, she has drawn many paintings of different faces. "There wasn't any particular

model for those faces," she says. "Rather, I tried to get the inspiration for face from many things: Sometimes,

that can be the face of a people printed in a magazine. Or it can be just a rock found in the environment.

Through identilying the originality of each individual, I tried to express the variety of the human face."

Furthermore, with her Swedish journalist friend hving in Tokyo, Filiz is working on a new project, the idea of

which was developed from her "face" series. For this project, she will photograph many women's faces by

herself. This fall, she will have an exhibition for her latest work in the event held by the Embassy of Sweden.

"I want to present those women's pictures by encrypting them into my painting. Along with my painting, my

journalist friend will compose a story for each woman. We have just started working on this project, and

have yet to see how this will all work out. By evolving this theme, we would like to present our perspectives

and opinions. It seems that every method of expression have been explored by someone already.

Nevertheless, I would like to try a new way of expression myself. That must be a very challenging task, but

it is worthwhile to aim at."

These days, Japanese culture such as Kanji, Katakana (alphabet), Manga (Japanese animation/drawing) is

gathering increasing attention in Europe and the United States. Distancing herself from that frenzy, Filiz

looks at Japan with her own perspective. Lets see what her next work will be.

Photo caption:

Filiz Emma Soyak

Born in Belgium, she has a Swedish mother and Turkish father. After graduating from the University of

Vermont in 2001, she started her career as an artist

  http://www.filizsoyak.com