Arkın Ilıcalı is known worldwide by the name Mercan Dede. He was born in Bursa in 1966. Ilıcalı, who completed his higher education in Turkey and abroad in the eld of visual arts, focused his works mainly on sound and music in the past years. His interest in photography began under the guidance of Kayhan Güven, professor at the Press Faculty of Istanbul University. This interest was intended by his engagement with marbling, a traditional Turkish art, under the stewardship of Nur Taviloğlu, professor at the İstanbul University Fine Arts Academy. He was invited to open a ‘photography and ebru’ exhibition in Saskaaton by a Canadian expert who was impressed by his works. This was followed by him suspending his education in journalism and starting the Bachelor of Fine Arts at Saskatchewan University. After completing his schooling at the printing department, of which Charles Ringnes was the head, he moved to Montreal to earn a Masters of Fine Arts in the Studio Arts Programme at Concordia University. At the end of his six years of master studies in Concordia, he put an end to his academic work in printing techniques to give priority to his musical works. In 2001 he was the only Turkish artist to be invited to participate in the “Artist International Direct Support” project, supported by Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama. He has participated in 8 solo exhibitions. He continues his works in his studio in Montreal.