İlker Ortaç

Ilker Ortaç is an Istanbul-based writer, illustrator, photographer and visual artist. His work addresses the body, disability, gender codes, identity, urban life and social exclusion through grotesque, underground and politically engaged visual language. He works across illustration, writing, photography and film, bringing autobiography and social critique into direct contact.

Artist Statement

My practice moves between portraiture, illustration and political visual language. I am drawn to figures whose work has altered culture: musicians, filmmakers, writers and artists who carry vulnerability, dissent, contradiction or intensity in public.

I use distortion, dark humour, saturated colour and the visual vocabulary of underground culture to make portraits that are not simply likenesses, but encounters with a voice, a body and a social presence.

Working from Istanbul, I bring autobiography and social critique into direct contact.

Selected CV
Published books: İkinci El Bakire (2010), Sidik (2016), Kaybetme Hırsı (2017).
Short films: Çarşamba, Pazar and Havar.
Practice: illustration, photography, writing and film.

Website and social links
Website: https://ilkerortac.com