Biography
Onur Öztürk is an Assistant Professor of Art History in the Art and Art History Department, primarily teaching art and design history, visual culture, and global awareness courses including Art of Islam, Art and Ritual, and Rethinking Museums. Originally from Ankara, Turkey, he received an M.Arch. degree in History of Architecture from the Middle East Technical University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Öztürk's research focuses on the art and architecture of ancient and medieval Asia Minor, modern Turkey. His dissertation provided an in-depth study of the cults of divine rulers and urban transformation in Roman Asia. His current project focuses on the funerary monuments of the female elite in Kayseri. He is the primary editor of the recently published book Deconstructing the Myths of Islamic Art (co-editors Xenia Gazi and Sam Bowker, Routledge, 2022). A selection of his digital maps and architectural illustrations can be viewed in Penelope Davies' publication Architecture and Politics in Republican Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His teaching and scholarship aim to reveal our intertwined histories while tackling Eurocentric and linear narratives of art history.
Instructional Areas
Art of Islam; Art and Ritual; Art as Spiritual and Social Practice; Design History: Objects and Spaces; Global History of Architecture; Introduction to Visual Culture; Rethinking Museums; Art History Survey: Prehistoric to Modern.
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Roman Provincial Art and Architecture; Early Turkish Islamic Art and Architecture; Alevi Culture and Rituals; Art and Politics; Architectural Illustration; Digital Reconstruction; Art History Pedagogy
Degrees
B.Arch, Architecture Middle East Technical University 2000
M.Arch, History of Architecture Middle East Technical University 2002
Ph.D., Art History University of Texas-Austin 2013