“You don’t have to take off your shoes, but please don’t step on the rug”, says Asku quickly, but she’s too late. While admiring the high ceiling of the old building, I’ve already set one foot on the edge of the rug. Whoops. “I don’t have a lot of seats in my room, as you can see, so when I have visitors we sit on the floor. That’s why I like to keep it clean.” She bought the rug on Facebook for about €30. There’s an iron burn mark on one of the corners. “That’s probably why I could get it for cheap.”
Pizza box
On the other side of the rug is a large mirror. Vanity? “I do care about the way I look, but it’s mainly there because it makes the room look bigger. A tip from my mother.” The wall next to the mirror is filled with art, from sketches on torn notebook paper to large canvas paintings. “I made them myself”, says Asku. She steps forward and points to a dark drawing of a hand pulling an eyeball off something. The work above it features a purple-pink face held by two hands. The former was drawn on the inside of a shoebox lid and the latter on the back of a pizza box.
“I’m often inspired by books or music”, says Asku. “Like Bad Religion by Frank Ocean. I’ll get an image in my head and just have to do something with it. If I don’t have a canvas lying around, I’ll just use whatever is available. Sometimes that’s a pizza box. I now have four canvases stored behind the bed, just to be safe. Sometimes I don’t draw for weeks, but I could just as easily use all four of them in the next few days. My parents have always encouraged my love of art.”
A Room of One’s Own
Fittingly, one of the books that inspired her was A Room of One’s Own. “When I heard the name of this Observant series, I immediately said yes to featuring in it. The book is about the status of women, women artists in particular. They must have their own room to retreat to and be creative in – a privilege that tends to be taken for granted by male artists.” Asku points to the book on the windowsill. There’s no obvious connection between it and the themes or genres of the books around it. “I got most of them from my friends. I like to exchange books with people. Books inspire my art and I get to read all kinds of literature this way – novels, poetry, self-help.”
Asku grew up in Saudi Arabia, a country in which Islamic law is strictly enforced. Her parents, who are from Turkey, work in the oil industry. She is Muslim on paper, but in practice, “I don’t believe in Islam. But I’m not an atheist, either. I’m not sure. I was not raised religious.” She enjoys life in Europe. “Here, you can be who you want to be without obligations imposed from above.” In Saudi Arabia, she explains, she was not allowed to go to the supermarket without a male relative accompanying her. There are five prayer calls a day. “If you happened to be in the supermarket, they would lock the doors until prayer time was over.” Despite all this, she had a happy childhood. She enjoys her freedom in the West, but considers it a blessing that she has experienced Arab culture as well. “It’s so warm and welcoming. I really miss it here in Maastricht. Growing up in a different environment taught me to look at things from different perspectives.”
Women drivers
Her father is nearing retirement. Her parents’ plan is to move back to their homeland of Turkey afterwards. Asku would like to return to the Middle East after completing her studies. “I want to promote women’s rights.” She may go to Abu Dhabi, but she hasn’t ruled out Saudi Arabia yet. “The country is slowly moving in the right direction. Women have been allowed to drive since a few years ago and restaurants are no longer required to have separate areas for men. But there is always more progress to be made.”
Finally, we touch on an item that is missing from her room – a piano. Asku misses it terribly. She took lessons at the Royal Academy of Music, but she is modest about her piano skills. “Sometimes I play the public piano in the Faculty of Law for friends, but it’s right next to a study room. I always feel awkward playing there.”