Özge Samancı (born 21 July 1975 in İzmir) is a Turkish-American media artist, and associate professor at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

`s School of Communication. She creates media art installations and graphic novels. Her art installations merge computer code and bio-sensors with comics, animation, interactive narrations, performance, and projection art. Her installations use media arts to break down people's mental and emotional barriers and hear about environmental issues. Her graphic novels combine drawings with three-dimensional objects. She is the author of an autobiographical graphic novel ''Dare to Disappoint'' (Farrar Straux Giroux, 2015). She won a 2017

Berlin Prize The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin to scholars and artists. Each year, about 20 fellows are selected. The stated mission of the program is to improve the transatlan ...

with her graphic novel project ''Not Here but Everywhere''. Her graphic novel ''Dare to Disappoint'' received international press attention and in 2016 won both Middle East Book Award and 30th Annual New York Book Show Award. She was a guest at the

Berlin International Literature Festival The Berlin International Literature Festival () or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and international children's and young adult literature. ...

. She won 2020 Distinguished Alumna Award from

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

Life

Samanci was born in 1975. She grew up in the coastal city of Izmir with her teacher parents. She studied mathematics at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...

and published

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

in humor and film magazines. She moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. on digital media at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her interest in comics expanded into

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

and experimental media and she received an Andrew Melon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Art Practice Department of

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Graphic novels and comics

Dare to Disappoint
' is Samanci's graphic coming-of-age memoir published by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Her story takes place after the military coup leading to Turkey's rapid change to

neo-capitalism Neo-capitalism is an economic ideology which blends some elements of capitalism with other systems. This form of capitalism was new compared to the capitalism in the era before World War II. Social and economic ideology that arose in the second ...

from 1980 to 2000. The book was translated into six languages. After going through the struggle of obtaining a degree in mathematics to please her father and society, she becomes a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and media artist.
Evil Eyes Sea
', her second graphic novel, is inspired by semi-autobiographical details. Ece and Meltem are economically struggling engineering students. They witness a freak accident. Ece and Meltem’s investigation into the accident will lead them on a search for truth and treasure hidden under the Bosphorus. Their hopes of solving their personal financial troubles become entangled with a political corruption story. ''Evil Eyes Sea'' was in the Best Graphic Novels of 2024 list of and

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

. won th
Cartoonist Studio Prize 2025.
Her drawings have appeared in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

Slate Magazine ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former ''The New Republic, New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as ...

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

, Airmail,

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

and

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine founded by Stephen Elliott (author), Stephen Elliott, and launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as origi ...

. Samanci ran ''Ordinary Things'', an online comics journal with more than 1800

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

images depicting her daily observations, from 2016 through 2020.

Interactive art installations

''Wastwaste'' is data driven and it draws parallels between space and marine pollution. In ''You Are the Ocean'', participants can control the installation's oceanic imagery with their minds. ''Fiber Optic Ocean'' composes music generated by live data from sharks and humans. Her interactive installations have been exhibited internationally, at the Museu do Amanhã, Siggraph Art Gallery, FILE festival, Currents New Media, The Tech Museum of Innovation, WRO Media Art Biennial, Athens International Festival of Digital Arts and New Media, Piksel Electronic Arts Festival, and ISEA among others.

Awards and recognition

*2025, The Cartoonist Studio Prize *2023, The Artist Fellowship Award, Media Arts, Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA) *2022, Nomination to Wolinski Prize with Dare to Disappoint *2020, The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Award, Georgia Institute of Technology *2017, Berlin Prize, American Academy in Berlin *2016, Dare to Disappoint, Middle East Book Award *2016, Dare to Disappoint, 30th Annual New York Book Show *2015, Clarence Simon Award for Teaching and Mentoring *2015, Fall, Dare to Disappoint was awarded the designation of “A Junior Library Guild Selection”

Bibliography

*2024, Evil Eyes Sea (Graphic Novel), Uncivilized Books. *2015, Dare to Disappoint (Autobiographical Graphic Novel), Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Translated to Dutch, Korean, Italian, Turkish, Persian, Romanian. *2004, Animasyonun Onlenemez Yukselisi (The Irresistible Rise of Animation), Istanbul Bilgi University Publications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samanci, Ozge 1975 births Living people American artists American academics of Turkish descent Boğaziçi University alumni Georgia Tech alumni The New Yorker people People from İzmir