My name is Aya [EYE-UH] Doslu [DOE-SLOO] and I am a multidisciplinary artist with a BFA in Intermedia, born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
My curiosity and fascination about life and nature is what ultimately compels me to create art. In an attempt to make sense of the world around me, I locate patterns and draw connections.
I am drawn to people and their stories, and I believe that everyone's story, no matter how small, can share connection to someone else's. Most of my narrative work is about feeling misunderstood, alone, and yet ultimately how we are all connected as living beings. People, animals, and creatures of all sorts are typically the focus of my art rather than inanimate objects; or on the contrary, I like to pretend inanimate objects are people. (See my puppetry work in my short films Common Thread and Fabric of Reality.)
Why the Name "Absurd Aya"?
Thats a great question, and I'm glad you asked. I did not make my artist name "Absurd Aya" to say that all my art is absurd, or about the subject of absurdity. Rather, absurdness to me means a lack of objective meaning or truth. When I think about the big picture of life and its meaning.. it's absurd.
"The realization that life is absurd and cannot be an end, but only a beginning. This is a truth nearly all great minds have taken as their starting point. It is not this discovery that is interesting, but the consequences and rules of action drawn from it" - Albert Camus.
Being neurodivergent, my brain often favors categorizing things, and splits ideas into black and white answers. I find a lot of power and freedom in embracing this theory that "life is absurd"; and I can stop searching for the 'right' answers on how to live my life. Embracing absurdity is my autonomy.
Awards & Exhibitions
Fresh Film Northwest Heart Award, 2016
Gold Key Portland Metro Scholastic Art Awards, 2017
Best Use of Graphics in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences - Creative Activity and Research Day at University of San Francisco 2020
New Visionaries Exhibition at LightBox Photographic Gallery, 2023