Nil Yalter: Circular Tension by Omar Kholeif

The first biographical book on the Turkish contemporary feminist artist Nil Yalter, winner of a Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale

In this deeply personal account, author Omar Kholeif takes readers on a journey through the life and work of Nil Yalter (born 1938)—one of the pioneering artists of our time. Born in Cairo and raised in Turkey, Yalter has lived in France since 1965. Over the course of six decades, the artist has created genre-expanding artistic projects across disciplines, innovating across both form and content regardless of the complex sociopolitical context that has surrounded her.
Dr. Kholeif fuses the genres of auto/biography to unfurl a social and historical context that examines concepts of ethnicity, the diaspora and feminism. Gender and sexuality are unbuckled, presenting a distinct picture of the changing cultural climate both in France and globally during the last century.
Omar Kholeif is an author, curator, broadcaster, cultural historian and Director of Collections and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates.