GROUP

Cizgelikedi was founded in 2005 in Izmir, a portal city situated in the West end of Anatolian peninsula. This little center of visual culture set off with a view to create a momentum and interaction putting a premium on quality in the art of photography in a city which has been deprived of cultural and economic motivation despite its 8000 years of history, a population of 3.5 million people and its natural beauty.

Cizgelikedi has become a center of visual arts where seminars on photography training and workshops are being held, public discussions and talks on visual culture are being organized, and production of works of a certain quality is being supported through projects. The first project group of the Cizgelikedi initiative was Cizgelikedi Women’s Project in 2006-2007 which involved 19 women photographers in a project, “Identity and Power”. The initiative continued its projects with a different group in 2007-2009 with a project called “Identity and Obedience” which presented photographs of 17 women photographers in an exhibition. The primary purpose of both projects was to experience a common ground of production with women photographers of Izmir who were keen to use photography as a tool for artistic expression, focusing upon a social concept and share these productions with the people in an exhibition.