Anna Zizlsperger talks to Inci Eviner, artist
In many of your interviews you mention that drawing — or specifically the line — is an integral part of your artistic practice. How did your interest in drawing start, and would you say that it’s still an important part of your practice?
I started drawing when I was 5 years old — I remember it very well, the image is very clear — and I have been drawing since then. Drawing is essential for me. It is a way of getting in touch with the world. Drawing also serves to create some studio programme for me. Talking through drawings, speaking with drawings — It is like a body’s gestural movement for me. So all my works, including my video and composite works, photographs and large scale projects, are based on drawings. I start with the line, and then I think through it — otherwise I can’t understand what’s happening in my mind. Drawing is an action that allows me to reveal my subconscious to myself. As a conceptual line, it helps me to pick up my thoughts and develop ideas. So drawing is kind of a studio for me, how I relate to my subconscious.
How did you develop your practice in later years at University?
At Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, drawing is taught as a stage prior to painting. But for me, as a student, drawing was the main artistic medium — It was an independent, artistic, very visual language…
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