As one of the leading artists of Istanbul’s contemporary art scene from the 1990s onwards, Gülçin Aksoy produced works across different media such as tapestry, photography, video, performance and installation, using diverse materials including found objects and fabrics. G. Aksoy dealt with all kinds of power mechanisms through her practice, which was far from retinal forms of art-making, demanding as it does an in-depth and conceptual engagement from the viewer.

After graduating in 1986 from Samsun’s 19 May University as an art teacher, G. Aksoy completed her postgraduate studies in painting at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul (1995). After working there as a research assistant in the Engraving Studio between 1990–1992, she was transferred to the Tapestry Studio with painters Zekai Ormancı (1949–2008) and Özdemir Altan (b. 1931), in the Painting Department of the same university. She was the head of Tapestry Studio between 2008–2024. Without separating her artistic identity from her role as an educator, G. Aksoy developed a teaching ethos that emphasised equality in the studio. As an alternative way of learning and making art she encouraged her students to unlearn academic knowledge. Learning Process, a work she realised with her students that represents the culmination of her teaching philosophy, was exhibited at the Academiae Youth Art Biennale in Italy in 2018.

Her acclaimed work Geç Kaldın [You are Late, 2000], was first shown in 2002 at the Pedestrian Exhibitions, one of the most comprehensive exhibitions held in Istanbul’s public spaces and curated by late Fulya Erdemci. For this exhibition, the artist produced a large clock, which was placed in a car park. The clock featured the text “you are late” instead of numbers, addressing a consumer society that is in constant discomfort, and symbolising the unconsciousness of Turkish society, which is felt to be lagging behind in terms of modernisation.

As the youngest in her family, G. Aksoy grew up with three elder sisters and two brothers. Tragically, one of her brothers was hit by a police bullet in the aftermath of the 1980 Turkish coup d’état. The artist examined the personal and social scars caused by the coup and its repercussions on her family in an exhibition named Duble Hikâye [Double Story, 2014] at Depo Istanbul in 2014. G. Aksoy depicted the aesthetics of the pre- and post-coup periods, with her story departing from the account of her sister, who was forced to apply for asylum in Sweden after their brother was killed. One of these works, Kılık Kıyafet [The Clothing 2014], was prominent and included the striped garment that her sister had borrowed from the artist just before leaving the country for good. Three decades later, G. Aksoy realised that the fashionable clothing of the day was similar to prison uniform.

Throughout the 2000s, G. Aksoy independently produced exhibitions and worked on many collective projects with notable artist friends in the contemporary art scene in Turkey, including Nancy Atakan (b. 1946), Gül Ilgaz (b. 1962), Neriman Polat (b. 1968) and Gözde İlkin (b. 1981).