The thing that needs to be confessed is that the credit Onur deserves is given to her after 2000s and by rediscovering her. Surely Füsun Onur was working and producing, yet her visibility in Turkey was rather limited when compared to Turkey. This has changed in the end and finally "Through the Looking Glass" exhibition, which contains works from every period of her, in Arter with Emre Baykal as the curator.

Füsun Onur was an artist, who has been Ali Hadi Bara's student in the academy's sculpture department and starting from her student years with the effects of her teacher's ideas, she has sought to find new ways of dealing with the formal language of sculpture discipline. The main reason highlighting Onur, is that she tried the untried in most of her works by taking the risk for all kinds of reactions. Going to States in 1960s, she has studied philosophy and art theory - she forced the limits of sculpture. She has been in close relationship with writing in all her life and she wrote texts on explaining herself, theories on "new" art. Therefore when it has been looked through the biography of the artist, starting from the early periods it can be observed that her search has not only been structural.

Although it has not been separated with sharp boundaries, the works in "Through the Looking Glass" exhibition, which spread through three floors, do in fact belong to the three periods of the artist.  In the process starting with her first exhibition in Taksim Art Gallery in 1970, Füsun Onur goes towards direction of surreal and tries to go beyond it. Instead of adding, she chooses to subtract in a negative sense. By doing so, she causes new questions and arguments with her work in the beginning of 1970s. The work called "unnamed" on the ground floor of the exhibition with its deviant form as "sculpture" and dated 1970 or the one named "unnamed (Formless Form)" dated 1971 should be evaluated as an effort to search. The earliest work exhibited is a two dimensional installation on the wall.  "Sparing Space on White Sheet of Paper" dated 1965-66 gives clues about Onur's future subtractions in three dimensions by thinking the boundaries in between painting and sculpture.

"Labyrinth With Mirrors", which has possibly inspired the name of the exhibition, is a construction made out of mirrors, of which the artist did the model in 1972; but never really actualized. It is a playful work with its narrowing, sinking crossings and the effect from the illusion. Placing it to the entrance and regarding it so much to give its name to the exhibition look as if it is a reductive approach that is to do with "display". Maybe if it hasn't been presented like this, possibly the name of the exhibition could have led the spectator to deeper meanings.

From her early period onwards, Füsun Onur does not hesitate to use ready-made material when required. The artist’s first work from completely ready-made material is in 1974, when a sculpture of Gürdal Duyar was removed since it was found obscene by Erbakan Government. Setting off from the idea of doll decorations on the bridal cars in that period, Füsun Onur cuts a doll horizontally and creates optical effects with the help of mirror and glass in her "nude" work. 

When Onur is talking about her tendency towards art starting from her childhood, she always talks about the little sculptures she made with dough.  Those tiny sculptures that she produced as if a child is creating toys, fill up her home and her atelier as well. For instance "You Said Don't Buy Bread, But It Occurred to Me" dated 1978 is one of her works in this manner. On the other hand, Dolls House plucked from artist's atelier, is a work that Onur is uniting by forcing the borders of toy and art. It is meaningless to discuss if her intention here is whether to do toy or art; because her skill to create her own world in her home, which is the sanctuary of a little girl, with her imagination that is adequate for herself, is an essence that is in all of Onur's work. "Wardrobe", which is again included in the exhibition from her atelier, is filed with clothes, which are kept by the elder sister and little brother of a fancy girl since they didn't have heart to wear them and they also mean everything about the past.

Beginning from 1980s the artist starts to get interested with the concept of space from a different angle and as well as carrying her work to space, she also carries space to her work. Her installation named "Third Dimension in Painting, Come Inside", which is aimed to form space and won an award in 1981 in New Directions Exhibition (Yeni Eğişimler Sergisi), refers to the concept of multi dimension by reminding the borders of painting.  This is one of her works indicating that painting shouldn't necessarily be kept in the frame and it is a room formed by strings, which has the dimension adequate enough to go inside. Going inside feeling worried to damage something, you can sit on the cushion and watch the sky made out of beads. This impels the spectator to a subconscious reading cleansing the impulses such as work, children creating their own space and finding peace by going inside, shelter.

"Counterpoint With Flowers" dominates the upper level of the exhibition - this is also the installation giving its name to her exhibition held in 1982. "Counterpoint" is a musical term describing accord on melodies. Space, which is covered fully in synthetic blue material, is designed as an imaginary garden filled with weirdly proportioned and looking flowers made again with synthetic material. The irritating side of the material disappears in this set up. Real, but dried plants found one or two in the space gets involved with little tinsel details on them.  Work impose its own nature - i mean its own space- and even its own time to the spectator somehow by creating its own. On top of that, Onur gets involved in the matter of music, which she will be using quite often in her later works, in this way. She writes the melody of silence with harmony

Onur's work called "Life, Art, Fiction, The Dream of Abundant Stuff „Yaşam, Sanat, Kurgu, Terkedilmiş Eşyaların Düşü)", which also gives its name to her exhibition in 1985, appears as "The Dream of Old Stuff" By exhibiting some old materials that "remained" to her from others, the artist directed to -with her own words- "fantasy facts". Although the gallery is a much as the "white cube" character of the venue, these materials are in relationship with each other and live in their own space and time. By using their identity as objects well, they look as if dreaming of being an image.

"Time Icons" is one of emotionally charged works, with which she breaks the strong reality of sculpture by choosing fragile material from 1990s onwards. Works are formed of leathers used in shadow play and giving the image that they are hanged randomly in white painted wood -"scaffold". Gathering painting and sculpture once again with this series, the artist involves light and shadow concept as well.

As in "Any Chair" dated 1992, Onur uses feminine materials such as gauze quite often. Presenting "ordinary" chairs wrapped in gauze and cleansed of its functions under colourful lights, the artist has therefore turned these into fetish objects. Yet, there is no special lighting in this exhibition and this is a change that can effect the meaning. Being a subjective Istanbul story "Istanbul Obsession" or "The Ones Who Gets Washed Here" and "Let's Meet In Orient" are again from 90s and close to each other as in their narrative.

​Most of the works in the exhibition are re-produced according to their originals; because they were constrained. This reminds us again the lack of museum, which will get, store and exhibit these works in the best way possible as well as indicating the necessity of artist, who works exclusive of forms in unity, to store his/her works with his/her efforts. On the other hand, she also has new and previously not exhibited works in the exhibition as well. Using cat figure previously as well, Onur has created a dreamlike-volatile-fantasy presentation with the help of shadow in her work called "Elegy for Tekir", dedicated to her deceased cat, which I had the honour to meet. The most separated work in the exhibition is "Pink Boat" video. Sketches dates back to 1993, this work is formed of a floating pink boat and rectangular forms attached to it that is shot in single frame to be showed for 8 hours, which is the duration of exhibition stay open, on the waters of Bosphorous in front of her family’s heirloom mansion. Basement being the atelier, mansion of Onur's family is more than a home for her - it is rather her shell- and her existence space, which she unites with her soul. Going nowhere even if it floats for eight hours and spreading its luminous pink light in a jiggly way, the pink boat is like Onur's soul that can't drift away.

Being some sort of life nostalgia, Onur's graceful, delicate and attentive art makes the spectator acquainted with the spectator.  On the other had, Onur's idea and concept world that she mentions in every given opportunity, makes her art related to thought as well as emotions. Catalogue accompanying the exhibition, is more than explaining the exhibition by turning it into an object, but it is as if it belongs and related to her since it includes photographs of family mansion or the works of that artist from old albums kept by her sister and with its design as well as Baykal's article on Onur.   In order to spectate the exhibition, which avoids to have a retrospective character when it could easily have been, one needs to be in the same condition with an exhibition and its artist. Complimentary to the exhibition, Ali Kazma's video called "Home" has the character supporting this kind of relationship with the artist.