Ayşen Kaptanoğlu

Ayşen Kaptanoğlu (Istanbul, 1985) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. She studied literature at Istanbul University before training at Wackers Academy (2016–2021) and attending the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (2022–2024). She recently received the Jeanne Oosting Prize 2025 for her works on paper.

Her practice investigates power dynamics, sexuality, and gender, asking questions about violence, its origins, and the structures that reproduce it. 

Kaptanoğlu’s use of bright colors and intense emotions is informed by personal experiences and the characters she has encountered in life and literature. While studying Italian and English language and literature, she engaged with thinkers and writers such as Sara Ahmed, Jean Rhys, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who shaped her critical approach, attuned her to quiet forms of resistance, and reinforced the importance of sustaining righteous anger. The poetry of William Blake, for instance, influenced her to incorporate animalistic characters, tigers often appear as mythical companions to the women who take center stage.

Each painting is a statement of power and beauty, while also serving as a warning: the characters can be wild and untamed. Beyond gender, her works explore loss, violence, migration, and other complex emotions, giving them vivid form on the canvas. 

Kaptanoğlu has participated in prominent group exhibitions such as the Jeanne Oosting Prijzen Exhibition at Museum MORE and Missing Like a Round Shape at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2025). Her recent solo exhibitions include Battlegrounds at Villa De Bank, Enschede, and Cracks, Holes and Roses at Madé van Krimpen, Amsterdam (2025). Her work has been shown internationally at venues including Jean-Claude Maier Gallery, Frankfurt, and Versus Art Project, Copenhagen. She is the recipient of the Jeanne Oosting Prijs (2025) and grants from the Van Den Ende Foundation and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and has completed public commissions such as the 2025 City Archives Drawing Assignment in Amsterdam.