Hande Alpaslan was born in 1988, and she studied Marine Biology in Istanbul University. She specializes on animals and plants using different kind of watercolor techniques. Her interest in fine arts goes back to her childhood but she entered the art scene with the 15th Istanbul Biennial, in 2017 while assisting an American artist, Mark Dion as a biologist. While they were collecting marine animals and resilient plants of Istanbul, illustrators were drawing them. At some point, Dion suggested her to give watercolors a try. She painted some of the plants and he liked them so much to give a space in the project. This is how Hande’s very first watercolors has been exhibited at Istanbul Biennial! Since then, she continued painting animals and plants. She has undertaken international commissions, set of whales for Australian schools, illustrated food books, patterns for textile brands and has realised realistic pet portraits. Her fascination to nature is reflected in her work as basic and naive, as the soul of the animals she portrays.