About

Hilal Khaniyev was born in Trabzon, a coastal city along the Black Sea in northern Turkey, into a quiet lineage of women devoted to art. Her grandmother stitched beauty into fabric through intricate embroidery, while her mother paints luminous florals. Though rooted in this artistic heritage, Hilal took an unconventional path: she is a self taught painter with a background in data analytics and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in analytics at Georgia Tech.

Her life has been marked by constant movement. From early childhood in Texas to high school years in the United Arab Emirates, and later graduate studies in Finland, Hilal’s journey across cultures and continents has shaped her perspective. Rather than feeling anchored to one place, she has come to embrace the richness of cultural diversity as a defining element of her identity.

Now based in Seattle, she has turned fully toward her creative voice. Through her paintings, Hilal explores themes of belonging, memory, and connection, weaving personal experience into visual stories that feel universal.