Sofija Baykun

Article

Sofija Baykun is a multimedia artist working in Chicago. She combines and distorts imagery, objects, and materials to give form to the intangible and explore a feeling of distance from the present. The surreal results range from playful to unsettling. She received her BA in Art with a Studio Concentration in Sculpture from Northeastern Illinois University. She has exhibited numerous times at NEIU and been a recipient of the Northeastern Illinois University Art Merit Scholarship from 2023 to 2026 and the award for best 2D work in their 2024 Annual Student Juried Exhibition.

Works

Transit
In April 2026, Sofija Baykun exhibited her solo installation Transit at Northeastern Illinois University’s Gallery 214.

Sofija Baykun

Baykun looking cool and mysterious in her installation Transit

Lives Chicago

Known for Sculpture, drawing,
collage, ceramics

Cat Pepperjack

Transit

Images

Transit, 2026, multimedia installation. Photo by Renata Gabriela.

Installation view

Installation view

Installation view

Untitled, 2026, mixed media, 3’ x 2’ x 1’8

Installation view. Photo by Renata Gabriela.

Installation view

Untitled, 2026, mixed media, 3’4 x 1’4 x 1’6

Untitled (detail)

Madonna and child, 2026, mixed media, 4’ x 2’ x 1’6

Madonna and child (detail)

Plaything, 2024, mixed media, 26” x 8” x 5”

Untitled, 2026, mixed media, 7” x 3” x 1”

Untitled, 2025, mixed media, 7’1 x 1’6 x 1’6

Hail to the Chief, 2024, charcoal on paper, 14” x 10”

Fish out of water (Chauncey), 2024, stoneware, 16.5” x 9” x 8”

Installation view

You’re not from around here, 2025, collage, 8” x 5”

You’re not from around here (detail)

Installation view. Photo by Renata Gabriela.

Installation view

Xu asleep in Transit

Installation view

Installation view

Statement
In my installation Transit, I use a surreal setting and characters to express a sense of disassociation. I’ve been affected by this feeling for much of my life and it often feels like a retreat into my own head. I confront this sense of disconnect by instead giving it a physical form that can exist in front of and around me. However, I also embrace the desire for escape by fleshing out a space to sit in it. By blending aspects of a home and a subway car, I created a space that is familiar yet incongruous, like a dream. The setting of a train embodies the feeling of separation, as it is a place you inhabit between actual destinations. Although surrounded by people, the anonymity can make it feel as if you’re alone or not there at all. References to the home are meant to embrace these associations, finding a home in their persistence and somewhere comfortable to sit with unease. Figures with obscured or missing features that almost get lost in their surroundings emphasize the sense of anonymity and hollowness. Their distorted proportions, ranging from silly to uncanny, convey the awkwardness of feeling out of place, which can be both absurd and unnerving. The strangeness of these passengers invites the viewer to acknowledge and briefly surrender to a sense of distance and to exist in this in-between place.

Contact

Email sofijabaykun@gmail.com if you have any questions or just want to say hello!