Name
Esra Gültekin
Biography
Esra Gültekin is a Kurdish documentary photographer and journalist from Turkey. She has been working as a photojournalist previously based in Diyarbakır -the largest Kurdish city in eastern Turkey- for JINHA 2013, the all-women news agency before it was shut down by the Turkish authorities. In 2017, she graduated with a master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Istanbul Bilgi University.
My photography has been published in international media outlets including The Guardian, BBC, Die Welt, Taz, Euronews, and various other publications.
My photography has been published in international media outlets including The Guardian, BBC, Die Welt, Taz, Euronews, and various other publications.
Category Tags / Research Areas
Artist Statement
“I work on social issues such as identity, discrimination, migration, borders, memory, and place. I use different methods in my work like photographs, videos, and audio recordings. I take my own personal experience and identity as a Kurdish-Alevi as a reference, to find and transfer stories that occur in our social histories but are silenced by dominant power structures and thus only exist in memory. I search for the voices of courageous and resilient narrators to bring these untold stories to light.
I worked primarily in the media landscape then I started to explore and produce works that incorporated and explored creative storytelling. My formal approach to the image contextualizes it within the real socio-cultural landscape. I aim to reclaim reality that has been usurped by dominant power structures and create an alternative space through the image of marginalized groups. My photos empower subjects, celebrating their identities and realities”.
www.esragultekin.com
I worked primarily in the media landscape then I started to explore and produce works that incorporated and explored creative storytelling. My formal approach to the image contextualizes it within the real socio-cultural landscape. I aim to reclaim reality that has been usurped by dominant power structures and create an alternative space through the image of marginalized groups. My photos empower subjects, celebrating their identities and realities”.
www.esragultekin.com