We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sinejan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sinejan below.

Alright, Sinejan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I had to draw some organs and body parts when I was an art student, for a doctor who was preparing brochures. I’m gutted that I no longer have the brochures or remember the doctor’s name to track down my drawings. I don’t remember exactly what they looked like, but I remember it was the first time I got paid for my work. The next time I got paid was when I painted running horses for a café in Istanbul that hosted Turkish coffee fortune readers

Sinejan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m afraid there’s anything particularly special about how I ended up in this industry. I studied art. My generic artist statement here below, which seems more refined but I will also try to explain a little more about my latest thoughts and dilemmas.

“Her works exist in the margins between fact and fiction; physical decay; displacement, destruction, and disuse. Her practice focuses on the idea and reality of unrecognized territories, non-space, and the ways in which an individual can or cannot determine whether a place is fact or fiction.”

I’ve always been drawn to things in decay, or displaced, or forgotten objects, or people, or the ones left behind. I think there’s something organic about how things dissolve or morph over time, for various reasons. Maybe it was too many heartbreaks in my twenties, and too much Cioran to S King. I don’t know and that’s not really important. I believe the personal isn’t that important. It should be separated… at least for a while.

My main goal is now to not touch any concept of any sort. Why must my work slowly curl up under one of those worn out, yet still valid, conceptual umbrellas? It is hard to drive 180 miles an hour and not touch any literary concept at all. Recently, I’m interested in the untrained mind, in having no structure or foundation. I think that’s the purest form of it all. So, how do I get there? is my current question.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

This is just a snapshot from the last few years and definitely not a full map of my influences. The reason is I guess I tend to go through obsessive phases with certain directors, writers, or artists. For a few months, I’ll consume everything they’ve ever made. I’ll even google translate interviews just to squeeze out more context and get into their heads. I rewatch, reread, relisten over and over.

And then, I forget.

It reminds me of how I treat shoes: I’ll wear one pair every single day until they fall apart. I don’t rotate pairs like podiatrists recommend. Maybe there’s a connection there. I think obsession is a delicious thing. When I’m in it, my imagination feels vast and vivid.

Not listed by importance, just by memory: Catherine Breillat, Omer Fast, Byung-Chul Han, Abbas Kiarostami, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Limbo (the game), Raime, Fitzgerald & Rimini…

These names came to mind in a sudden rush. But most of them are studying the tension between fact and reality. Sort of where it begins, where it ends, and how we even distinguish between the two. My most recent work moves in that realm too, often unconsciously at first, but now with more intention. There’s a strange kind of comfort in realizing that.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Zovian.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sinejanstudios.com
• Instagram: sinejanstudios
• Other: Threads: sinejanstudios

  Spotify : Sinejan (the one shows only my neck and also wearing a coat)

Image Credits

Sinejan Buchina, 2020-2024, drawings, paintings, installation.