Merve Erbilgiç (İstanbul, 1988)

After studying Communication at İstanbul Bilgi University and Marketing at Kingston Business School, Merve started working as an illustrator in the children’s book sector and established her own atelier. Between 2017-19, she studied illustration at Sàrmede School of Illustration in Italy. She participated in collective exhibitions in Turkey and Italy. Her illustrations have been published in international catalogs. The artist has produced projects in the field of contemporary illustration for picture books, adults & young readers & poetry books, magazines and personal projects.

Her first book Bazı Kuşlar Uçtu was published in 2018. She received honourable mention in the International Edelvives Illustration Award for her “unique and powerful aesthetic approach” in her book The Quest in 2019. In order to support the contemporary illustration culture in Turkey, she founded Shhhbooks; an independent publishing house and international communication platform specializing in picture books in 2020.

The artist, who thinks illustration books should be a personal art gallery that provides an artistic experience to its audience, aims to free the imagination of the audience by using different techniques together in her works such as; monotype printing, collage, acrylic.

She continues to work in her studio in Istanbul.