After studying philosophy at Galatasaray University, Zeynep Okyay studied cultural management at Bilgi University. Since 2010, she works in the field of contemporary visual arts and carries out her curatorial and research-based works with PASAJ and amberPlatform.
She focuses on the relationships between artists and communities, and the contexts in which the two meet within a specific location and time. In her research practice, she uses the dictionary form as an instrument to pursue social structures and the sharing of knowledge and experience through vocabularies, in an attempt to create new forms of expression within present conditions.
Okyay is one of the founders of the Istanbul-based PASAJ independent art space, which has been collaborating with social communities and hosting project exhibitions/workshops since 2010. She also works on networking between cultural actors and organisations. She is one of the initiators of bagimsizlar.org, an ongoing project that lists and maps initiatives in Turkey.
She is a member of the AICA Association of Art Critics, TR.