About ANQI

ANQI (安琪 / Melek Anqi) is a Turkish-Taiwanese contemporary artist whose vibrant visual language expresses multicultural narratives through a distinctive combination of fluorescent colors, calligraphic elements, and rich cultural references. Working across mixed media painting, sculpture, and immersive installation, ANQI creates visually striking works characterized by their two-dimensional spatial treatment reminiscent of Asian painting traditions, highly textured surfaces, and vibrant color palettes.

In her paintings, ANQI employs a bold expressionist style that integrates elements from Asian manga, ancient mythology, and childhood drawings. These multi-layered works feature floating forms and figures in void spaces or abstracted landscapes that pulsate with energy, frequently incorporating the Chinese character for "dream" (梦/夢 meng) in various historical iterations—from oracle bone inscriptions to modern script. Her confident handling of materials—from traditional acrylic and oil to glitter, marker, and digital elements—creates surfaces that reward close inspection while maintaining powerful visual impact from a distance.

ANQI's process involves collecting and revisiting images over time—childhood paintings, found imagery, and personal photographs—which she transforms to create personal yet multicultural narratives. This recursive approach allows her to build a distinctive visual vocabulary that evolves while maintaining connections to its origins.

Her sculptural practice centers on her iconic character Hiromita, a profound embodiment of Plato's Daimon concept—the inner guide that leads one toward their true calling. These sculptures, with names like "Dream-gazer," "Void-eater," and "Soul-gazer," serve as companions for dreams in the heart seeking physical form. Inspired by the guardian tile cats of China's Yunnan region (wamao) and the manga characters that were ANQI's childhood companions in Taiwan, Hiromita sculptures are immediately recognizable by their distinctive facial expressions—simultaneously playful and wild—and whole-body presence that commands attention.

In 2024, ANQI founded Hiromita Project, an interdisciplinary art platform that extends her artistic vision beyond individual works into participatory, immersive experiences. The platform builds on the conceptual world of Hiromita to create installations, public art projects, and cross-cultural collaborations that explore inner guidance, transformation, and authentic connection in contemporary life.

Through Hiromita Project, ANQI has developed international collaborations across Turkey, China, and beyond, including major projects with BFM Art Center in Suzhou, China, and a large-scale immersive installation titled Journey to the Heart’s Calling presented in collaboration with ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair in 2025. The platform reflects ANQI's evolving practice — a shift from personal mythology towards a more collective, relational, and socially engaged artistic language.

Rendered in various scales and materials including fiberglass, bioplastic, chrome coating, flock coating, industrial paints, LED-illuminated transparent forms, and magnetic levitating elements, Hiromita sculptures maintain their essential character while exploring diverse material possibilities. Her installations extend this exploration into immersive environments where tent-like structures, reflective surfaces, and participatory elements invite physical engagement with her conceptual framework.

Born to a Taiwanese writer mother and a Turkish father, ANQI's multicultural upbringing informs her unique aesthetic sensibility. After moving to Taiwan at age seven, she experienced Chinese characters transform from abstract forms to meaningful language, only to become abstract again upon returning to Turkey—a formative experience that continues to echo throughout her practice. ANQI earned her graduate degree from Yale University and pursued further studies in fashion design and illustration, influences visible in her confident use of color and form.

ANQI's international exhibition history includes shows in New York, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Suzhou. Through her distinct visual vocabulary—at once personal and universal—she transforms fragments of memory and cultural symbolism into works that invite viewers to discover connections across seemingly disparate elements. Her practice stands as a vibrant testament to art's power to transform the void created by displacement into fertile ground for new visual languages and shared human experience.

Exhibitions & Collaborations

Exhibition Highlights

2025

• ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair, Ankara, Turkey (11th edition)
  Journey to the Heart's Calling — An immersive installation by Hiromita Project inviting visitors into an introspective experience centered around a nomadic Inner Home Tent, Hiromita sculptures, and a participatory Fabric River of Intention inspired by shamanic traditions. The project explores themes of inner guidance, transformation, and authentic connection.

2024

• Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China

  “Hiromita” paintings resented by BFM Art Center

• Suzhou Bay Sports Park Art Installation, Suzhou, China
  I Eat Your Void - Interactive Hiromita playground and sculptures installation in collaboration with BFM Art Center and East Taihu Lake Resort Area

• ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair, Ankara, Turkey (10th edition)
  Hiromita paintings and sculptures, presented by Esther Gallery Korea

• Art Marathon: Friends Everywhere, Suzhou Metro System, China
  Solo Hiromita-themed project as part of BFM Art Center's city-wide exhibition featuring works scattered throughout Suzhou's subway lines

• “How I wonder what you are” (究竟何物现奇景), Suzhou, China

  Group Exhibition, BFM Art Center. Featured 3 Hiromita paintings and 1 sculpture “Dream Guardian”

2023

• Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
  ”Hiromita” series - paintings and sculptures - presented by AB Gallery Korea

• Solo Show, “Hiromita”, Ankara Turkey

  Deppo29 Art Gallery

• ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair, Ankara, Turkey (9th edition)

  “Hiromita” selection: paintings and LED Box with AB Gallery Korea

• Awita New York Studio Group Exhibition, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  Featured Hiromita print works including "Beacon of Hope" and "Inner Star"

2022

• "Women of the World" Exhibition, Nowhere Gallery, New York, USA
  Hiromita NFT featured in a curated selection of works by female artists from around the world during NFT.NYC. Curated by Studio As We Are.

• Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey (17th edition)

  “Ethereal Sensations” series presented with AB Gallery Korea

2021

• Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey (16th edition)

  Featured works from “Glow-in-the-Dark” & “Dream Objects” series, with Galeri Binyıl

• Artweeks@Akaretler (Artweeks Istanbul), Istanbul Turkey (5th edition)

  "Dream Objects" & "Glow-in-the-Dark" series, with BBProjecTTl

• Solo show, “Dream Objects”, Istanbul, Turkey

  Karl&Ein Gallery

• ArtContact Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey

  “Glow-in-the-Dark” series presented by Ovooart

• Bodrum Art Fair, Bodrum, Turkey

  “Glow-in-the-Dark” series presented by Karl&Ein Gallery

• Group Exhibition,“Homo Sacer”, İzmir, Turkey

  Tilki Sanat Gallery

Notable Collaborations

• ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair (2025)
  Collaboration for the immersive installation Journey to the Heart’s Calling by Hiromita Project — featuring an Inner Home Tent, participatory Fabric River of Intention, and sculptures, emphasizing relational and site-specific storytelling.

• CoolWallet x HIROMITA NFT Collection (2023)
  Brand collaboration with CoolBitX featuring 10 unique HIROMITA NFT artworks that unlocked exclusive benefits for users, bridging art, culture, finance, and technology

• BFM Art Center (2024)
  Multiple public art installations in Suzhou, China, including projects at Suzhou Bay Sports Park and the Suzhou Metro system

• AB Gallery Korea (2023)
  Representation and presentation of Hiromita series at Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair