Renan Ozturk

Sunday, November 1 - Monday, November 9
Exhibition opening: Friday, November 6 from 4 to 5 p.m.
Max Bell Building Husky Energy Foyer
Free to the public

Renan Ozturk has two passions – climbing and art. He began climbing while in college in Colorado Springs, where he honed his skills and deepened his connection to the sport of climbing and the remote and beautiful places it could take him. Before graduating with a degree in biology, he travelled to Nepal, and the Himalayan Mountains still have a strong pull on him.

Over the past three years, Ozturk has spent time free-soloing and establishing new routes, including a first ascent on a new route on the South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos, and the first onsight free solo of Lightning Bolt Cracks on North Six Shooter in Desert Towers, Utah. That climb was featured in the Return2Sender film Parallelojams.

Ozturk’s climbing and his art – intricate, colourful renderings of favourite peaks – have been featured in a selection of recent films, including The Daily Commute, chronicling a team ascent of a big wall in Borneo with Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, Mark Synnot, Kevin Thaw, and Alex Honnold, and Samsara, a short film about an ascent of the fin-shaped peak of Meru in the Himalaya with Anker and Chin. His work can be found in the short film trailers for The North Face Speakers’ Series and the Reel Rock Film Tour, and he records all his filmed expeditions on his own site, rockmonkeydispatches.com.

His art will be on display in the Max Bell Building Husky Energy Foyer throughout the festival. Join Renan on Friday, November 6 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the exhibition opening. Free to the public.

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Photo credit: Photo by Jimmy Chin