Issue 26 | Spring 2022

The Gargoyle of the Notre-Dame Cathedral Paris

Zee Zee

The Gargoyle of the Notre Dame Cathedral art work

Artist Statement

I love the carved images on the early Minoan seal stones. They are inscrutable, grotesque. The Mediterranean is my culture and heritage.

Am I in love with art? Since I have been drawing. I draw on the newspaper or a book page, listening to the kitchen radio, the rainfall. I draw to love, I draw to do, and I draw to hope for. I keep my imagination close to my heart. The real art in life is between hanging on and letting go. I hang on art in life. Is this my gratitude? I believe in life, and art is at its core. One day, I will draw the shape of a heart.

About the Author

Guliz (Zee Zee) Mutlu is a visual artist, classicist, hispanist and museologist. She earned a masters degree and a PhD at the University of Ankara, Turkey) Her post-doctorate focused on Romanticism and Tenebrismo (Pompeu Fabra University, Spain). As a francophone, she is the author of Les Paroles Saphiques (Les Éditions Apopsix, France, 2011). Including her calligrams, she has been awarded the Prix Renée Vivien (L’Académie Renée Vivien), the Grand Prix de L’Écriture Poétique Francophone (La Société des Poètes et Artistes de France), the Prix Jean Aicard (Les Amis de Jean Aicard), the Prix de la Flore (L’organisation Sauvons la Luzerne) and the UNESCO Nosside World Poetry Mention Prize. Her haiku in English has been published by The Mainichi, Modern Haiku, Frogpond Journal, The Heron’s Nest, and Presence.

2022 highlights include the following awards and honors: Special Recognition for Excellence in Art at the 11th All Women International Art Awards and Exhibition, the Light & Shade Art Prize, and the Talent Prize at the Art Show International Gallery’s 5th Abstract competition and exhibition.

Her artwork has appeared or is forthcoming in Lavender Review, Sapphire Hues Press, Streetlight Magazine, Scapegoat Journal, Aji Magazine, Tenth Street Miscellany, Zoetic Press (Cover Art), Cardinal Sins Journal, Arkana, Penumbra! Literature and Art Journal, Cold Mountain Review, Apricity Magazine, Millennial Pulp Literary Journal, Scapegoat Review, Red Ogre Review, Gigantic Sequins, Pithead Chapel (Cover Art), AROHO Foundation, Straylight Magazine, Gone Lawn Literary Journal (Cover Art), and MAYDAY Magazine.