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Ever since I was a child growing up in Turkiye (also known as Turkey to the English speaking world) my dream was to be an artist. As far back as I can remember, my toys were my pencils, eraser, and paper. Through my teenage years, art was my meditation, the place where time disappeared and my hopes, fears, dreams, sadness, love, and temper tantrums played out on the blank page. I grew up in a military family. My father was an officer in the Turkish Army for 30 years before he retired. I was a teenager then, and adjusting to civilian life was a struggle for him. In his mind, anything but the military “royal colors” of black, gray, navy, burgundy, dark green, and brown were unsophisticated. My father held a particular dislike for the...