Turkish photography right now feels very alive. A lot of the work comes from spending time in the same places, walking the same streets, and paying attention to things that usually go unnoticed. Instead of chasing big moments, photographers often stay with everyday scenes and quiet situations.

They approach this in different ways, but what ultimately brings them together is something very simple: they just love Turkey and want to show it from a side that feels familiar to them, even if it might feel unfamiliar to others.

Ekin was born in Izmir in 1984. She originally studied ceramics at Marmara University, but somewhere along the way, she started working as a photographer’s assistant — and that pretty much changed everything. After graduating, she moved to Prague to study photography at FAMU.

Later on, she made Blue Flag, a project focused on the everyday life and visual language of Izmir’s summer beaches. The series was shown as part of SALT’s Summer Homes: Claiming the Coast exhibition.

Another important body of work, Auto-Orientalism, looks at Turkey through a very personal lens and was exhibited in the group show Istanbul Todays at Pera Museum.

Ci Demi was born in Istanbul in 1986. He began his academic path studying Italian Language and Literature at Istanbul University. Photography entered his life a little later — he picked up a camera at 28 and never really looked back.

Since then, his work has been featured in well-known publications like Foam Magazine and the British Journal of Photography, and shown at major photography festivals and institutions, including Les Rencontres d’Arles and Istanbul’s Pera Museum.

In 2022, his long-term project Unutursan Darılmam (No Offence If You Forget, 2018–2024) was awarded the Discovery Award at the Encontros da Imagem photography festival. Through this series, he looks at how his relationship with Istanbul has shifted over time, while also touching on the emotional pressure of the city and his own inner state.

His first photobook, Şehir Fikri (Notion of a City), was published in December 2022. The book presents an unsettling version of Istanbul — empty of people, animals, even language.

Olgaç is a Turkish visual artist whose work is strongly shaped by where he comes from. Although he later moved abroad, his early years in Konya continue to influence how he thinks about images. Ideas around cultural identity often surface in his practice and have become a natural part of his visual language.

One of the projects that really stands out to us, Saklan–Saklanıyorsun–Saklandın, is based on close collaboration with the strangers. While moving through different parts of Turkey, Olgaç would stop people and ask them a single question: “If you had to hide right now, where would you go?” What interested him most was their first instinct, which he photographed without directing or staging the scene.

The idea of hiding takes on many layers throughout the project. For some participants, it pointed to political or economic pressures and the need for safety. For others, it felt closer to a childhood game. In some cases, hiding became a way to speak about vulnerability or the desire to escape judgment.

Olgaç's work has gained wide recognition over the years. He was selected as part of Foam’s 2022 Talent, named one of the British Journal of Photography’s Ones to Watch in 2019, and featured in Aperture’s 2017 Element of Style issue, which explored how appearance and style shape personal identity.

Ces is a visual artist from Istanbul whose work you have probably seen online. He grew up surrounded by the energy and textures of the city — from graffiti and street culture in his teens to curious explorations of packaging, logos, and visual stories from a young age.

He studied graphic design and worked in agencies for a while, but eventually realised that the traditional creative world wasn’t where he truly belonged. At that point, he bought a camera and a computer and just kept creating every day, turning ideas into images and slowly building his own visual language.

What makes his work distinctive is the way he blends Turkish authenticity with unexpected, often surreal touches — placing modern symbols like Nike logos and Mercedes emblems into everyday street scenes to reflect both global influences and local life.

Ces sees his visual practice as rooted in his own experience and his understanding of Istanbul’s diverse cultural mix. He talks about proudly reflecting his roots, combining tradition and contemporary references to show the city as he knows it, full of texture, contrast, and warm human energy.