Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is witnessing an explosion of graffiti art. Many of those driving this wave of colorful artistic expression are women. Gamze Yalcin is one of them. She has been painting graffiti on Istanbul’s walls for the past six years. Yalcin, a trained artist, told VOA it is exciting to see continual growth of graffiti art across the city. “More and more, the new generation are very into painting on the streets. But for me it is still very much at the beginning,” she said. Yalcin spoke to VOA as she worked to finish her latest art project on the wall of an abandoned building in Istanbul’s Tophane district. She says a lot of the graffiti art deals with women and women’s issues. “I feel very lucky that as a female artist painting on the street wherever I go, that brings so much power and so much inspiration.” Yalcin believes this kind of artwork can help inspire women to do whatever they want to do in their own lives.
