Nur Koçak is considered one of Turkey’s first hyperrealist artists, emerging in the late 1970s. She visualises objects of consumer and popular culture in her paintings by using symbols such as perfume, lipstick and lingerie. The monumental hyperrealist depictions of these objects convey desire as objects evoking the female body. The significance of her work also lies in its potential for feminist interpretation.

N. Koçak completed her secondary education in Ankara and Washington, D.C. Between 1960 and 1964, she was a student in the painting department of the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy and trained under Adnan Çoker (1927–2022) and Cemal Tollu (1899–1968), both established painters of the period. Prior to her graduation, she moved to Lausanne, Switzerland and worked there as a technical draftsman between 1964 and 1967. A year after her return to Istanbul, N. Koçak graduated from the Academy under the tutelage of Neşat Günal (1923–2002), whose social-realist paintings had a significant impact on her. The artist received a state scholarship to Paris in 1970, where she enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts to study painting. From 1975 to 1981, she was a painting tutor at the Academy in Istanbul.

The works produced by N. Koçak in the 1970s particularly involved objects from the European consumer society and demonstrated an exploration of kitsch aesthetics. For example, for Vivre [To live, 1974], which depicts the titular perfume bottle, the artist drew inspiration from adverts and women’s magazines. This painting marks a milestone in her art as it was the first painting exhibited in Paris that she had developed using the airbrush technique. The Lipstick Altar (1979–1988), as well as her later works including Untitled and Mısırlı Men’s Underwear (Shop windows 3-4) (1990) and Peri Lingerie (2008-9) further illustrate this approach, converting utilitarian objects seen in shop windows into works of art.

In the 1980s, N. Koçak began depicting Turkish life from the 1940s and 1950s. The figures featured in the Family Album series, such as Myself 1 (1984–1985) and Myself 2 (1985), which were based on her own family albums, conveyed the impression of a progressive family portrait from that era. During this decade the artist also altered postcards of anonymous soldiers she had collected to create her Your Blissful Souvenirs series (1981). They were accompanied by black and white drawings that were inspired by a column published in Kelebek, a popular women’s magazine of the period. These paintings hold historical significance in reflecting the oppressive social and political atmosphere of the post-coup era of the 1980s.

With their strong documentary and archival aspect, N. Koçak’s works capture the attitude that people adopt in front of the camera. These pieces reflect the photographer’s intervention and how people are portrayed in certain poses. The appearance of various objects indicates her desire to overturn subject-object positions.

N. Koçak’s works are found in public and private collections, including the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. Her most comprehensive exhibition to date was presented at Salt Beyoğlu in Istanbul in 2019.