Zehra Doğan (born 14 April 1989) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

artist and journalist and author from

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

, Turkey. In 2017, she was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in prison for "terrorist propaganda" because of her news coverage, social media posts, and sharing a painting of hers on social media. Her painting depicts the destruction of the

Nusaybin Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

, town in southeastern Turkey, after the clashes between state security forces and Kurdish insurgents. After she finished her sentence, she was released from imprisonment from Tarsus Prison on 24 February 2019.

Career

She was a founder and the editor of Jinha, a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Kurdish news agency with an all-female staff. Jinha was closed on 29 October 2016 by Turkish authorities, as one of over 100 media outlets shut down since the failed

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

in July 2016. In February 2016, Doğan moved to and began reporting from

Arrest and imprisonment

On 21 July 2016, she was detained at a café in Nusaybin and then incarcerated on 23 July in Mardin prison. Her release pending trial was ordered on the 9 December of the same year. On 2 March 2017, she was acquitted of the charge of "belonging to an illegal organisation", but was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in jail for her news reporting and posting a painting to social media. She appealed the sentence but it was confirmed and she was arrested on 12 July 2017. "I was given two years and 10 months ail timeonly because I painted Turkish flags on destroyed buildings. However, they (Turkish government) caused this. I only painted it," Doğan wrote on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

following the sentencing. In prison, she and other women created the newspaper Özgür Gündem Zindan (Free Agenda Dungeon), whose name is a wordplay on

Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' ( Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, and was reg ...

(Free Agenda), an Istanbul-based publication that catered to Kurdish audiences. Doğan was released from prison in February 2019.

International reaction to the imprisonment

In November 2017, Chinese dissident artist

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

published a letter he wrote in solidarity with Doğan's case, drawing parallels between Chinese and Turkish repression of artistic expression. Doğan answers the artist from prison: "Art is the best instrument for the struggle". On 16 March 2018, England-based

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artist,

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams ...

unveiled a mural in New York, measuring 70 feet long, showing black tally marks for the days of Doğan's imprisonment, with one set becoming bars behind which Doğan's face looks out from jail. Speaking to

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Banksy said, "I really feel for her... I’ve painted things much more worthy of a custodial sentence." In 2019, Creative Nomads, an Italian production, will release a documentary film featuring three women: "Terrorist. Zehra and the others". The novelist

Aslı Erdoğan Aslı Erdoğan (born 8 March 1967) is a prize-winning Turkish writer, author, human rights activist, and columnist for ''Özgür Gündem'' and formerly for ''Radikal,'' ex political prisoner, particle physicist. Her second novel has been publishe ...

, and the forensic doctor and human rights defender Şebnem Korur Fincancı are interviewed, Doğan participates by correspondence from the prison, and she is represented by animated sequences with the voice of the actress Kasia Smoutniak. The documentary is directed by Marica Casalinuovo, Francesca Nava, Vichie Chinaglia, Marella Bombini.

Recognition

* 2015 Metin Göktepe Journalism Award. The award was for Doğan's work about

Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...

women escaping from

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

captivity. * 2017, Freethinker Prize, along with

Masih Alinejad Masih Alinejad ( fa, مسیح علی‌نژاد, born Masoumeh Alinejad-Ghomikolayi ( fa, معصومه علی‌نژاد قمی کُلایی), September 11, 1976) is an Iranian-American journalist, author, and women's rights activist. Alinejad c ...

, an Iranian journalist. * 2018 May, "Spring of Press Freedom" prize by Deutscher Journalisten Verbrand (The German Journalists Association) * 2018,

International Women's Media Foundation The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

's Courage in Journalism Award. * 2018, honorary member of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

* 2019 Exceptional Courage in Journalism Award of the

May Chidiac May Chidiac ( ar, مي شدياق) (born 20 June 1963) is a journalist and former Lebanese Minister of State for Administrative Development. Chidiac is a former television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) and one of t ...

Foundation * 2020, during the 14th edition of the Festival of Feminine Excellence in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Italy, she receives the "Hypatia Award for International Feminine Excellence". * 2020, "

Carol Rama Carol Rama (born Olga Carolina Rama; 17 April 1918 – 25 September 2015) was an Italian self-taught artist. Her painting encompassed an erotic, and sexual identity with specific references to female sensuality. She began to paint around the m ...

Award", Artissima 2020. * 2020, Power 100 - Most influential people in 2020 in the contemporary artworld. * 2021, Atomium Awards : Le Soir Prize of the comic strip of reportage 2021, for her graphic novel Prison n°5, published in 2021 by Editions Delcourt. * 2021, Power 100 - Most influential people in 2021 in the contemporary artworld. * 2021, "Prison n°5", top list of "The best comics of 2021" by Wired Italy. * 2021, "Prison n°5", selected in list of 10 best graphic books of the year 2021 by Il Manifesto.

Exhibitions

* November 2022 - March 2023, "Kurdystan - Oblicza trwania", Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, Poland. * 21 November 2022, "Paroles, corps et graphies", performance for the opening of the Human Rights Week of the University of Geneva, as part of the festival les Créatives. Geneva, Switzerland. * November 2022, Artissima Fair 2022. Torino, Italy. * October 2022, ''"Blue Freedom"'', the group exhibition ''"Rojava - Binxet"''. Curator Barış Seyitvan, as part of the Kurdish Film Festival, Babylon, Berlin Germany. * July 17 to September 25, 2022, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Calasetta, group exhibition, “War is sweet to those who have never experienced it”. Fondazione MACC in collaboration with Prometeo Gallery, curated by Efisio Carbone. * May - September 2022, "Prison n°5", collective exhibition "Splendid Isolation".

SMAK Smak ( sr-Cyrl, Смак; trans. ''The end time'') was a Serbian and Yugoslav band from Kragujevac. The group reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the most notable acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene. The band's le ...

, City Museum for Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium. * April 2022, "Prison n°5" for the exhibition "En la selva eau mucho por hacer". Curated by Maria Barrios. Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chili. * April 2022, "Established" B-13, Fiera Internazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Miart 2022, Milano, Italy. * April -Juin 2022, ''"Segni di me. Il corpo, un palcoscenico"'', six artists relate to

. Casa Testori, Novate Milanese, Italy. A cura di Rischa Paterlini con Giuseppe Frangi. * February 2022, Art Basel OVR, Zehra Doğan, "Prison n°5". * December 2021, Exhibition of "Xwebûn", women artists collective founded by the Academy of Jineology. Kareem Chawshin gallery, Sulaymaniyah, Irak. * Novembre 2021, "Other rooms, other voices", collective, Criminal Police Department Mühleweg, curated by

Adam Szymczyk Adam Szymczyk (Polish pronunciation: ; born in 1970 in Piotrków Trybunalski), is a Polish art critic and curator, writer and editor. He lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. Between 2003–2014, he was the director and chief curator at Kunsth ...

Zurich, Suisse. * October - November 2021, individual exhibition, "Zehra Doğan: Prigione N°5", Prometeo Gallery, Milano, Italy. * October - November 2021, collective exhibition, "Fractured Spine". Photobastei, Zurich, Switzerland. * September 2021, Miart, International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art, Milano, Italy. * July 2021, "El grito de la verdad" (The Cry of Truth), Cruce, Madrid. * June - August 2021, "Stronger Still", Kiosk,

Maxim Gorki Theatre The Maxim Gorki Theatre (german: Maxim Gorki Theater) is a theatre in Berlin- Mitte named after the Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky. In 2012, the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit named Şermin Langhoff as the artist director of the theatre. History I ...

, Berlin. * May - June 2021, "Danae revisited", Villa Brandolini, Pieve di Soligo, Italy. * February 2021, "Il tempo delle farfalle / Time of the Butterflies", exhibition dedicated to Patria, Minerva, Teresa Mirabal, curated by

Elettra Stamboulis Elettra Stamboulis (born December 31, 1969) in Bologna, Italy, is an art curator, high school principal, writer, and comic writer. She was the art director of Komikazen Festival in Ravenna. She has written many Graphic Novels including Piccola Ger ...

, PAC - Pavilion of Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy (Originally planned for November 2020 - Postponed due to pandemic). * January 2021 - June 2022 "Fashion is a verb: Art Performance and Identity", Willam Peterson University Galleries, NewJersey, USA. * December 2020, "Hassas Müdahale", collective exhibition, Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi, Istanbul, Turkey. * December 2020,

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

, "OVR: Miami Beach". * September–October 2020, "Nehatîye Dîtın / Görülmemiştir", Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi, Istanbul, Turkey. * September 2020, Art in Protest by

Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, with an emphasis on closed societies. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in ...

(HRF). * September 2020, Prometeo Gallery, Milan. Italy. Exhibition entitled "Beyond", with a performance. * September 2020, Palazzi dell'Arte Rimini - PART, Italy. Collective exhibition. Collection of the San Patrignano Foundation. * September 2020, Barcelona, Spain, La Panera Art Centre, mixed exhibition on censorship, "Línies vermelles. La censura en la col", with the digital work "Nusaybin". * September 2020,

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. T ...

, Germany. * August 2020, Lucca Italia, group show, "A volte penso che...", Ex Chiesa di San Matteo, Piazza San Matteo, Lucca. * On July 21, 2020, Doğan pays homage to the city of Brescia, in Italy, with a large mural artwork for coronavirus resistance. Curated by

* July 2020,

Ravenna Festival The Ravenna Festival is a summer festival of opera and classical music (as well as dance, jazz, ethnic, musical theater, ballett, sacred music, electronic music, drama, film, plus conventions and exhibitions) held in the city of Ravenna, Italy and t ...

, Italy, two performances during the "Roads of Friendship" concerts, with the Kurdish singer

Aynur Doğan Aynur Doğan (born 1 March 1975) is a contemporary Kurdish singer and musician from Turkey. Career Aynur Doğan was born in Çemişgezek, a small mountain town in Tunceli Province in Turkey and fled to İstanbul in 1992. She studied ''saz'' a ...

, the Giovanile Luigi Cherubini Orchestra and the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO) conducted by

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

. Curated by

* June 2020, she begins a wall newspaper project entitled "The Hard Times" with a first issue dedicated to

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

, on a wall around Parc

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...

in Paris. * January 2020, Nassauischer Kunstverein in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

"To each Age its art –To Art its Freedom" * January 2020, Peace Forum 2020 in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Switzerland * December 2019,

Middle East Institute The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1946. It seeks to "increase knowledge of the Middle East among the United States citizens and promote a better understan ...

(MEI) Art Gallery,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, United States. "Speaking Across Mountains: Kurdish Artists in Dialogue". * November–January 2019,

Santa Giulia Museum San Salvatore (or Santa Giulia) is a former monastery in Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy, now turned into a museum. The monastic complex is famous for the diversity of its architecture which includes Roman remains and significant pre-Romanesque ...

, Brescia, Italy, "Avremo anche giorni migliori. Opere dalle carceri turche" as part of the Brescia Peace Festival. Curated by

* November 2019, Galerie de l'Espace des femmes – Editions des femmes,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France "Œuvres évadées" * November 2019,

Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States "The Pencil is a Key - Drawings by Incarcerated Artists" * May 2019,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Great-Britain, installation titled "Ê Li Dû Man" (What is left behind) * March 2019,

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

Opera House, France, exhibition titled "Eyes wide open" (Les yeux grands ouverts) * December 2018 "Kurdish Art Fair" 2nd edition, London, United Kingdom * January 2018, Tour Saint Aubin in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

, France, exhibition titled "Les yeux grands ouverts" (Eyes wide open) * September 2018, Pays de Morlaix, France "Festival des Autres Mondes" (Festival of the Other Worlds) * August 2017, Festival de cinéma de

Douarnenez Douarnenez (, ; meaning ''douar'' (land) ''an enez'' (the island) or land of the island), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, northwestern France. It is located at the mouth of the Pouldavid River, an estuary ...

, France, exhibition titled "Les yeux grands ouverts" (Eyes wide open) * February 2017, Diyarbakir, Turkey, exhibition titled "141".

Bibliography

* Zehra Doğan ''"Wir werden auch schöne Tage sehen. Briefe aus dem Gefängnis"''. Spector Books, February 2022. * Zehra Doğan, "Avremo anche noi dei bei giorni", Fandango, February 2022. * "Zehra. La ragazza che dipingeva la guerra", (Zehra. The girl who painted the war) by Antonella De Biasi, illustred by Zehra Doğan, Mondadori, 8 juillet 2021, * Zehra Doğan "Prigione N°5", graphic novel. Becco Giallo, Avril 2021. * Zehra Doğan "Prison N°5", graphic novel, Delcourt, translated/adapted by Naz Oke, Daniel Fleury, March 2021. * Zehra Doğan "Avremo anche giorni migliori. Opere dalle carceri turche" (We shall also know better days. Works from Turkish prisons) by

, Art Catalogue,

Skira The festival of the Skira ( grc, Σκίρα) or Skirophoria ( grc, Σκιροφόρια) in the calendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June. Description At Athens, t ...

Publishing * Zehra Doğan, "Nous aurons aussi de beaux jours : écrits de prison" (We shall also know better days: prison writings), translated by Naz Oke, Daniel Fleury, Editions des femmes, October 2019 * Zehra Doğan, "Les Yeux grands ouverts', (Eyes Wide Open) translated by Naz Oke, Fage Editions, July 2017

References

External links

Official website of Doğan.

Special File Zehra Doğan (Multilingual)
at Kedistan.
Internet Archive of "Jinha" website in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doğan, Zehra 1989 births Living people 21st-century artists Kurdish artists Kurdish women artists Kurdish people Kurdish women journalists Kurdish feminists Journalists imprisoned in Turkey Kurdish journalists Kurdish writers Kurdish women writers