May Parlar was raised between Istanbul and New York City, and has lived in multiple  countries and cultures simultaneously throughout her life. Her art practice is a reflection  of this nomadic existence; searching for and creating links between time, place,  memory, and the self. Through playful and performative experiments that are driven by  an urge to unravel the stories, fears, desires, and vulnerabilities that define the human  experience, her work fantasizes a mode of existence beyond the structural impasse of  capitalism and its alienating social constructs. Authenticity, sense of self, belonging,  and different forms of alienation under the dominant paradigm are umbrella themes in  her work, which combines performance with installation, photography, video,  assemblage, movement and land art. Her practice draws heavily from psychoanalysis,  affect theory, feminist and queer studies; and embraces spontaneity, intuition and  humor, in a serious manner.  

May had numerous artist fellowships including Joshua Tree Artist Residency in JT,  California (2024), McColl Center in Charlotte, NC (2023), and Hangar Arts & Research  Center in Barcelona, Spain (2019). Her series ‘Collective Solitude’ was a finalist for the  Aesthetica Art Prize in the UK in 2019, and her work has been widely published and  exhibited internationally. Aside from her fine art practice, May is also a lecturer, writer,  and filmmaker.

IG: @mayparlar