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Succulents Make a Stunning Statement Inside Vintage Typewriters

Turkish artist Aysenaz Karayalcin likens succulents to the resilence of women around the world.

Images courtesy the artist

Shrubs mesh with artful machines in an ongoing series of hybrid upcycled typewriters by Turkish artist Aysenaz Karayalcin. Working under the name Afterawhile, the artist collects typewriters in all different languages, often from defunct brands like Smith Corona, Mercedes, and Hermes. Then she applies her degree in plastic arts from Istanbul's Yeditepe University Fine Art Academy to collage cacti and other fleshy flora with the reclaimed monkeyboxes.

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"I combine the typewriters, which have lost validity and usefulness, with cactuses, which I believe to represent the resiliency in women who, by their nature, are able to survive under very difficult and impossible conditions," Karayalcin tells The Creators Project. Lately she's moved her ideas into surrealist territory with a series called CACTUS WOMEN that fuses succulents with female mannquins

CACTUS WOMEN

Typewriters are similarly durable, and the self-described succulent junkie finds their continued use in the face of obsolesence romantic. "Typewriters are old fashioned tools for writing. However, all the love letters written by these typewriters have not been forgotten and will live forever."

Symbolism aside, Karayalcin is dedicated to the aesthetic appeal of organisms making a home inside human-made metal mechanisms. "If we are able to see, the nature presents us perfection and beauty. I humbly try to thank nature for its inspiration by reflecting this in my work." The vibrant greens mix with fading reds, blacks, and beiges to make a unique palette to which Karayalcin has devoted her practice in the seaside city of Urla. Check out Karayalcin's work below.

Follow Aysenaz Karayalcin on Instagram.

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