ARTS AND CULTURE
A book and a documentary already under her belt, Muallâ Mezhepoğlu made her debut photography exhibition in November. The women in Mezhepoğlu’s family, her grandmother, mother, and herself, have all been interested in photography. Her grandmother Şahiye Hanım had a dark room in her house and printed her own photos back in the 1890s. Indeed, historians credit her as one of the two Ottoman Muslim women who first took photographs. Mezhepoğlu’s mother categorized the family photos meticulously and Mezhepoğlu developed her own style by collecting photos of Bebek taken in the past years and painting over them.
Three generations’ interest led to the exhibition, Anılarımızdaki Bebek (Bebek In Our Memories) in collaboration with Galeri Kambur Bebek. Mezhepoğlu says she keeps getting motivated to try new things: “My grandmother, mother and I shared a love of photography, but each of us demonstrated this love in different ways. I collect photos or particular places I like. I have been living in Bebek for the past 68 years, and I love my neighborhood. I have been photographing old Bebek photos, printing them out in their original sizes and painting on them. When there were 250 of them, I decided to exhibit them. My curator suggested that I include some objects in the exhibition. Therefore, my grandmother’s 142-year-old camera and some of her photos joined my work.”
Mezhepoğlu has previously shared reminiscences based on the photographs from her family album in a book, Dün Takvimde Biter- Bir Cumhuriyet Ailesinin Tarihçesi (Yesterday Ends at the Calendar- History of a Family of the Republic, İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları).
