Mustafa Boğa
- Nationality
- Turkish
- Based
- Adana, Turkey and London, United Kingdom
- Practice
- Embroidery, video, photography and installation
Biography
Mustafa Boğa is a Turkish artist born in Adana who divides his time between Adana and London. He works across freehand machine embroidery, video, photography, performance and installation. He studied journalism at Istanbul University and cinematography at the University of Greenwich in London. From 2014 to 2016 he took the Fine Art MA at Central Saint Martins. He spent five years in film production before turning fully to art.
He builds his work from family photographs, home movies, quilts and archival images, returning to the rituals and memories of a childhood in southern Turkey. Migration, belonging, masculinity and identity recur. In 2021 he made Because Ours Could be the Beginning of a Beautiful Fairy Tale Dreamed of for Years, a five-channel video installation. For the fifth Coventry Biennial in 2025 he embroidered stills from family home movies of weddings and parties, dwelling on moments of solitude.
Since 2017 he has had solo shows in Istanbul, Adana, Antalya, London, Lisbon, Warsaw and Shanghai. His group shows include Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir, in 2021 and 2025 and the Turkish Textile Biennial in 2023. At Documenta 14 in 2017 he performed in pieces by Otobong Nkanga and Irena Haiduk. He won the Red Mansion Art Prize in 2016. Odunpazarı Modern Museum holds his work, and Martch Art Project, Istanbul, represents him.
CV
Education
- 2016MA, Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, London
- 2010MA, Cinematography and Post Production, University of Greenwich, London
- 2009Journalism, Faculty of Communication, Istanbul University, Istanbul
Solo exhibitions
- 2026This Might Be the Last Thing You Are Looking At, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2026The Shadow of Small Disappearances, Mandy Zhang Art, London
- 2025I see you as the main character in a story that I want to tell one day, Lisowski Gallery, Warsaw
- 2025For the Lives We Couldn't Hold On To, Nan Ke Gallery, Shanghai
- 2024Displaced Memories, Gülden Bostancı Gallery, Antalya
- 2023Looking for the warm spot in a swimming pool, Kun Art Space, Adana
- 2022All the things I don't want to hear from a politician, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2022Wild Flowers, Seven9three Gallery, London
- 2021Because ours could be the beginning of a beautiful fairy tale dreamed of for years, Bilsart, Istanbul
- 2021The Foundation Ceremony / Temel Atma Töreni, are Projects, Antalya
- 2020There He Is Without A Proper Diagnosis, LOA Gallery, London
- 2019The Landscape of Perpetual Flags, Casa dell'Arte, Lisbon
- 2018Army Time Memoir, The Emerging Artists Gallery, London
- 2017There He Is Without A Proper Diagnosis, Peckham Pelican, London
Group exhibitions and biennials
- 2026Bridges, 1st Edirne Biennial, Edirne
- 2026Unruly Vision, an[other]space, Lahore
- 2026Flora Fantastica, Venice Royal Gardens, Venice
- 2026I wouldn't want to be someone else, Yuvakimyon Greek Girls' School, Istanbul
- 2026The Sun Never Saw a Shadow, Galeri Siyah Beyaz and KA, Ankara
- 2026Matassa, Cortex Frontal, Beja
- 2025Wide Expanse, Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir
- 20255th Coventry Biennial, Coventry
- 2025Emergency Kit for Dummies, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2025Oriented Body, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2025Yedi Onyedi, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2025Blossom Time, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai
- 2025The Skin of the Earth, Çırçır Factory, Adana
- 2024NAE Open, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
- 2024Wirksworth Art Festival, Wirksworth
- 2024Old Walls, New Art, UKNA, Derby
- 2024Collectors: Artists, Ferda Art Platform, Istanbul
- 2023Far/Near, Museum of Painting and Sculpture, Izmir
- 2023From another world, Gazhane Museum, Istanbul
- 2023Slow down, Touch and Feel, Turkish Textile Biennial, Izmir
- 2023It doesn't matter until it does, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2023Pretty Doom, Ugly Duck, London
- 2022Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimarães
- 2022Just One Bite, Giswil Performance Festival, Giswil
- 2022Leicester City Take Over, Attenborough Art Centre, Leicester
- 2022Chronic, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2021Don't Look Back, Deep is the Past, Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir
- 2020Breathing Out of School, Bétonsalon, Paris
- 2020Isolation Mastered, JD Malat Gallery, London
- 2019Bodies in Alliance / Bodies in Defiance, Monitor/Rotor2, Gothenburg
- 2018Germination, RAW Material Company, Dakar
- 2018#2953c1 When it is not Spontaneous, Sagacity, Brussels
- 2018Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize shortlist exhibition, The Emerging Artists Gallery, London
- 2018Every Me / Her Bir Ben, Martch Art Project, Istanbul
- 2017Red Mansion Foundation Art Prize Exhibition, Kendrew Barn, Oxford
- 2017#276331054 Story Provided If Wanted, Listastofan Gallery, Reykjavik
- 201750.065.07 Red Never Apologises For Being Red, SIOUSIOU Studios, Berlin
- 2016DO, UNDO, REDO, Central Saint Martins, London
Awards and grants
- 2025Commission funding for the 5th Coventry Biennial, SAHA, Turkey
- 2025Artist residency, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai
- 2023Funding for Wirksworth Festival, The Ampersand Foundation
- 2023Wirksworth Residency, Wirksworth
- 2023Artist residency, Air Kvitbrakka, Berlevåg
- 2022Artist residency, AIR Sandnes, Sandnes
- 2022Martch Arts Studio Residency, Martch Art Project, Ayvalık
- 2021Project fund open call, winner, Bilsart, Istanbul
- 2021Artist residency, Viborg Kunsthal Riddergade, Viborg
- 2020Freelands Foundation Emergency Fund, a-n The Artists Information Company, London
- 2019ThirdBase Art Residency, ThirdBase, Lisbon
- 2018Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, Highly Commended, London
- 2018Académie Session 5, Germination, RAW Material Company, Dakar
- 2018Artist residency, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt
- 2017AiR Competition Studio Award, shortlisted, The Muse at 269, London
- 2017Artist residency, Process Space Art Festival, Russe
- 2017Artist residency, SIOUSIOU Studios, Berlin
- 2016Red Mansion Art Prize, winner, UK and China
Public collections
- Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir
Documents
The same biography, statement and CV as print-ready PDFs, for press and exhibition files.
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