Gülbin Özdamar Akarçay

Born in 1980, Gülbin Özdamar Akarçay received her B.A., M.Sc., and PhD in Journalism from Anadolu University in Turkey. She is a documentary photographer, researcher, and curator who tries to understand the cultural, ideological, environmental, and sociological order of the world, as well as the ordinary structures of daily life. Also an academic, she produces documentary and uses photography to conduct visual ethnographic research and produce photographic installations that are highly conceptual. Many of the photo-essays, installations, and social projects she has launched concern social issues: projects protesting violence against children and women, migration, identity; installations about cultural diversity, gender, mindset, and the environment. Her recent project involves working with refugee women and sugar factory workers in Turkey. She was the curator of “Intimate Revolt” exhibition which was supported by FAMU in Prague. “Intimate Revolt” exhibited in several countries such as Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Turkey. She was also the driving force behind the Living Woman Photography Group, which advocates for women and children who are victims of violence. The group’s projects resulted in photography exhibitions between 2011-2022. Apart from promoting the works of others, she has held many personal exhibitions which include “Face of Prisoners” (2002), “Children of Maticni” and “Narodni Divadlo” (2007), “My Self reflexive Diary: The Balkans” (2017) and “Don’t look at me like that” (2023). She was a post-doc fellow at Department of Anthropology in University of Toronto Scarborough and was selected for the World Press Photo seminar organized in Turkey in 2002-2004.