Simge Tunali is a Turkish, Boston-based multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer. She works in a variety of mediums, combining them together to create visual ideas that reflect an ontological dialogue between the human and environmental  experience. Tunali first studied Philosophy from Akdeniz University in Turkey before moving to the United States to study art. Her interest in philosophy, specifically existential ontology, has inspired her practice today. Studying in Massachusetts she attended Quincy College for Visual Arts then moved on to obtain her second BA with honors in Graphic Design from Bridgewater State University. Tunali’s diverse background has guided her to merge disciplines and materials in her current work. She approaches her art with a mixed media method, utilizing printmaking, painting, illustration, photography, animation, sculpture, and graphic art elements.

Tunali has exhibited work in both Turkey and the United States. Her work was shown at the Urban Life Photography Exhibition (2014) in New Acropolis, and in the 53rd Annual Art Exhibition at Bridgewater State University (2019), with her sculpture Destruction of Inauthenticity winning third place. She won first place at the 15th International Mediterranean Youth Festival (2012) at Akdeniz University, and in 2013 she gained an honorable mention at the Annual Photography National Contest. Besides her independent art and graphic work, Tunali collaborates with non-profit organizations, creating art that explores topics on social and environmental issues. Organizations that she has been involved with include European Union’s The Youth in Action, FOCCP, Save The Harbor, TEMA, and GEA. 

 My art practice is influenced by my interest in existential ontology. Exploring the duality between the self and the environment around us, I express the threshold of these two merging into existence. I examine the temporal nature of life by emulating a constant state of change, cause, effect and reaction through texture, color, and movement. In painterly and sculptural techniques, I focus on these reflections to address an interactive, dynamic relationship that emerges. I am not only intrigued by the abstract idea of an ontological perspective, but also the physicality of a changed environment deriving from the human desire to advance. I experiment with materials as a physical manifestation of these theories. Spontaneously recycling materials that I find around me, I also intentionally use structural elements taken from natural and unnatural environments. I incorporate items such as canvas, paper, paints, texture paste, paint skins, clay, grout, cement, plaster, wood frames, sand, rocks, and tree branches. Being explorative with my work allows me to immerse myself in the movement of everything being interconnected. During this process, I express the ever-evolving human-nature experience; actively engaging myself and others to develop awareness of ourselves and the world around us.