At the intersection between personal biography and the collective memory of her Mediterranean heritage, Felekşan Onar discovered in glass – a timeless vocabulary – a primary language to articulate ideas around unfinished identities, the construction of narratives across long time spans, complex historical connections and the relationship between politics and society in the contemporary world. A life split between seas of traders, from her Aegean home town of Söke to the both ancient and modern city of Istanbul, bathed by the Bosphorus Strait, the Marmara and Black Seas, glass has become more than a material for Onar  – it is a living history, replete with cultural and social references embedded in the simultaneous translucency and opacity of deep time.

One of the artist's best known works is the series 'Perched,' Onar's story-telling through glass, reflecting on the current migration waves around the world anchored in the metaphor of birds, but specifically referring to the plight of refugees in her native Turkey. 'Perched' has been the subject of numerous presentations in world-class museums and a recent monograph. Recent works include series such as #GetmePPE, a timely sculptural look at the overproduction and disposal of protective equipment during the global pandemic; '41X', exhibited during the 16th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, focused on the cultural interaction between the Ottoman Empire and Venice, through bridges.  

Onar began her journey into the world of glass work in a private atelier and subsequently received formal training in traditional glass making at Glass Furnace, in Istanbul. In 2003, she initiated her own atelier, Fy-Shan Glass Studio, and since then, the artist has broadly expanded her practice, moving seamlessly between historical craftsmanship, modern design and contemporary art. Encompassing a wide range of glass making techniques, fusing and slumping, kiln casting, flame working, melting and hot-forming, blowing and cold working, the glass studio is a place of technical skill and experimentation, bringing forth the immense potential in the language of glass that the artist has embraced early on.  

Felekşan Onar was born and raised in Turkey. She completed her undergraduate education in economics and music history at Cornell University and graduate studies at Harvard Business School. She works out of her Pera atelier, in the historical center of Istanbul, as well as in Berlin and Murano. Her most recent exhibitions include Islamic Art Museum, Doh;, Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul; Arkas Museum, Izmir; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Pergamon Museum, Berlin, and Magazzino Gallery at Palazzo Polignac, Venice. Onar's works are held in important public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Riihimaki Glass Museum, Finland, Contemporary Glass Art Museum, Eskisehir, and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.