Nil Navaie is a native of Istanbul—a city where East meets West—who grew up in a bilingual and bicultural home. This early exposure to cultural diversity shaped her interconnected, intercultural, and interdependent worldview, which continues to inspire both her creative and professional pursuits.
Nil’s international and interdisciplinary approach is evident throughout her practice. In her visual art, she primarily explores human forms and their dynamic interplay with nature and objects. Her recent pieces embrace collage and mixed media techniques, combining pastels, pencils, and acrylic paints with handmade papers, digital photography, and natural and recycled materials. Abstract forms are interwoven with traditional motifs, resulting in a tapestry of eclectic, layered narrative.
Nil began her artistic training at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts, followed by design at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts. She later pursued her BA in International Relations at the University of Maryland and earned a master’s degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics.
Alongside her academic and professional endeavors, Nil has continuously drawn, painted, designed, and experimented with diverse media, including soundscape compositions, theater, and movement/dance. She has completed commissioned works and participated in solo and group exhibitions across both sides of the Atlantic.
Beyond the studio, Nil is an arts advocate, curator, researcher, communication strategist, and the founder of Arts for Global Development, Inc., with 20+ years of experience in exploring the intersection of the arts with behavioral, societal, and environmental development. Her work focuses on how the arts can drive positive human and ecological change. As a published author, she writes on a variety of topics including health and arts-based approaches to sustainability. Among her publications are a chapter titled “Societal Arts Marketing: A Multi-sectoral, Interdisciplinary, and International Perspective” in the Arts Marketing book by Elsevier/Routledge (2004), as well as “CreativeChange Worldwide” (2005), which explores the transformative power of the arts and creative social entrepreneurship.