Melis Buyruk and Her Porcelain SculpturesCEFR B2
8 Jan 2026
Adapted from Omid Memarian, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Rodrigo Castro, Unsplash
Melis Buyruk entered 2025 with two exhibitions that drew international attention for their careful use of porcelain and their poetic approach to myth and memory. "Four Birds and One Soul," shown in the United Arab Emirates, takes a story from Rumi’s Masnavi about four birds in the cage of flesh and treats the birds as states of mind rather than literal figures. "Because Some Things Are Still Beautiful," presented alongside a solo section with Leila Heller Gallery at Contemporary Istanbul, responds to moments when clarity is fragile and language falls short.
Buyruk was born in Gölcük in 1984 and began studying ceramics at Selçuk University in Konya in 2003. She selected porcelain for its translucency, precision and the technical demands it places on the maker. Her "Habitat" series imagines ecosystems where human, plant and animal forms interact, and the four birds embody symbolic qualities:
- peacock — pride,
- crow — material attachment,
- rooster — impulsive desire,
- goose — greed.
Her practice is labour-intensive and exacting: porcelain can crack or change in firing, and time spent working in Jingdezhen helped her learn to manage these risks. She sees porcelain’s domestic familiarity and fragility as central to the emotional effect of her sculptures. Reflecting a wider shift in ceramics from decorative craft to a central role in contemporary art, her work entered significant collections, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi through Leila Heller Gallery. She plans to deepen the new series, expand its colours and technical possibilities within porcelain, and increase her global exhibition presence.
Difficult words
- porcelain — a hard, white clay material used for fine objectsporcelain’s
- translucency — the quality of letting light pass partly through
- ecosystem — a community of living things and their environmentecosystems
- fragility — the quality of being easily broken or damaged
- exacting — very demanding, requiring careful attention to detail
- firing — the process of heating clay in a kiln
- symbolic — representing ideas or qualities by signs or images
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How does the domestic familiarity and fragility of porcelain affect how viewers might feel about these sculptures?
- What differences might there be for a viewer if the birds are shown as literal animals rather than states of mind?
- Buyruk plans to deepen the series and expand its colours and technical possibilities. How might these changes affect the work’s emotional impact or public reception?
