Sabiha Çimen (born 1986) is a Turkish photographer. Her series ''Hafiz'', about girls at Quran schools in Turkey, was shown in a solo exhibition at Kunsthal, Rotterdam. For ''Hafiz'', Çimen received a

W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is an organisation established to encourage and support individuals who are active in the field of photography for humanitarian purposes. It gives out the W. Eugene Smith Grant and Howard Chapnick Grant. Since 1979 ...

Grant, 2nd Prize in the Long-Term Projects category of the World Press Photo award, and the First Photobook Award at the

Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation. It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012. The categories are First P ...

Early life and education

Çimen was born in Istanbul to an ethnically Kurdish Persian family. She graduated from

Istanbul Bilgi University Istanbul Bilgi University ( tr, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi), officially established in 1996, is a private university located in Istanbul, Turkey. The university has 4 campuses centrally-located in Istanbul namely SantralIstanbul, Kuştepe, Do ...

with an undergraduate degree in international trade and finance, and a master's degree in cultural studies. Her master's thesis on

subaltern Subaltern may refer to: *Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power * Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer * Subalternation, going from a univer ...

studies, which includes her photo story "Turkey as a Simulated Country", was published in 2019. She is a self-taught photographer.

Life and work

Çimen's book ''Hafiz: Guardians of the Qur'an'' (2021) shows the daily lives of students at girls-only Hafiz schools throughout Turkey. "Hafiz" means "guardian" and refers to people who memorize the Quran. Çimen spent 3 years herself studying in such a school, where she returned to in 2017 to begin making this autobiographical work. She went on to photograph Quran schools elsewhere until 2021. Çimen became a Magnum Photos Nominee member in 2020.

Personal life

Çimen has a twin sister.

Publications

* ''Turkey as a Simulated Country''.

Cambridge Scholars Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

, 2019. . *''Hafiz: Guardians of the Qur'an''. Red Hook, 2021. . Edition of 2000 copies.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*''Hafiz'', Visa pour l'Image, Perpignan, France, 2022 *''Sabiha Çimen: Hafiz'', Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands, January–May 2023

Group exhibitions

*''Close Enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum'', International Center of Photography, New York, September 2022 – January 2023, included Çimen's ''Hafiz''

Awards

*2018: 3rd Prize, PHmuseum Women Photographer Grant *2020:

Grant Recipient. One of five co-winners. *2020: 2nd Prize, Long-Term Projects category, World Press Photo for ''Hafız'' *2020: Canon Female Photojournalist Grant, for ''Hafiz''. An €8,000 award. *2022: Winner, First Photobook Award,

for ''Hafiz''

References

Magnum photographers Turkish women photographers Photographers from Istanbul Istanbul Bilgi University alumni Living people 1986 births 21st-century Turkish photographers {{Photographer-stub