Başak Kaptan Şiray was born in Izmir in 1978. She graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Fine Arts and completed her master's degree in Graphic Design. In 2003, she received a DAAD scholarship to study at the Münster Academy of Arts and continued her artistic studies in film, video and new media. In 2004, she received a post-diplome scholarship from Lyon National School of Fine Arts and continued to work and research in the field of contemporary art as a resident artist at ENBAL in France. She completed her PhD at Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, Communication Sciences Program in 2013. She worked as an assistant professor at Mardin Artuklu University Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Visual Arts (2014-2020) and Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Radio, TV and Cinema (2020-2024). She is currently working as an associate professor at the Department of Culture and Communication Sciences at the Turkish-German University and as a visual artist in Istanbul. Her research interests include representations of cultural identity, contemporary art politics, new media, digital art, and affect theory and tactility in film studies. In her artistic work, she transforms stories gathered from field research, everyday life, individual and collective histories into detailed visual narratives. Using drawing, printmaking and analog animation, she explores the materiality and tactility of remembering at the threshold of identity formation and the volatile self.