Derya Akay (Turkish, b. 1988) is an interdisciplinary artist who works, learns and gardens on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Akay plays with the tension between preservation and decay, control and chance, trial and error. Their process-based artistic strategies allow them to embrace the realities of time and transformation on the organic materials they work with. Akay poeticizes the act of cooking, using it as a metaphor for their studio practice. Akay received a BFA from Emily Carr University in 2010. Collective plant, garden and food-based projects include Garden Don’t Care and Looking at the Garden Fence. Recent exhibitions include Toronto Biennial of Art; The Wattis Institute, San Francisco; The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver; Unit 17, Vancouver; and Vancouver Art Gallery.