Feleksan Onar

Written by '74Escape

Feleksan Onar | Artist & Founder of Fy-Shan Glass Studio

Feleksan Onar, born and raised in Turkey, completed her undergraduate degree in economics and music history at Cornell University and graduate studies at Harvard Business School. She works out of her atelier in Pera, Istanbul as well as in Berlin and Murano.

The artist’s works are housed in important public collections worldwide including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Pergamon Museum, Berlin; Riihimaki Glass Museum, Finland; Contemporary Glass Art Museum, Eskisehir, among others as well as in private collections. Her most recent solo exhibitions have been held at Arkas Museum, Izmir; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Pergamon Museum, Berlin and Magazzino Gallery at Palazzo Polignac, Venice.

While drawing on sources from her personal history as well as collective memory, Feleksan Onar’s works in glass deal with the notions of identity, constructed narratives, historical relations and impacts of politics on society. In her most recent work, ‘Perched,’ her story-telling in glass reflects on the Syrian refugee situation while with ‘41X’, exhibited during the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, she particularly focuses on the cultural interaction that evolved through the art of glassmaking between the Ottoman Empire and Venice.