Eylül Aslan is a photography artist and a Turkish

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

that is known for her gender-defying photography.

Early life

Aslan was born and raised in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. She studied French language and literature at

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

and eventually moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany. Born to a mother who was a complete liberal feminist and the Chief of Women's Rights for the Turkish opposition party CHP, and a father, surprisingly, from the conservative north and is devoutly

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, Aslan believes her family is an accurate representation of Turkey itself. “There is a mix of everything.” After her parents’ divorce, Aslan, the only child, spent much time around her mother. “She’s had a big influence on me. She’s the one who gave me my first camera – so it’s all her fault.”

Photography

Aslan has also been “sexually harassed more times than she can count. Women around the world are treated like objects, but it’s somehow more aggressive in Turkey.” She started with self-portrait, modeling for her own photos. Her cousin then became her first muse, and then gradually her friends wanted to model for her. However, they would constantly ask her to make sure that nobody recognized them. Aslan's art has a clear focus on women. She positions her models in states of undress before cracked mirrors and distorted glass, and creates figures that are fractured and bare, consciously objectifying the female form. As topics such as gender and sexuality have grown to be increasing important in Turkey, Aslan believes such reactions to her work is due to the lack of open discourse about women in Turkish society. “We don’t have female role-models that women can attach to,” she explains. In 2008, at the insistence of her cousin, and despite her father's approval, Eylül started a

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account and uploaded her photos, formally attaching her name to her work. By 2012, her work had gained a following in Turkey.“I cried at my first

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

in Istanbul”, Eylül says, “women came up to me and said, ‘We have to turn the mirror on ourselves, to look at ourselves and see if we are happy.’"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aslan, Eylul Turkish women photographers Turkish feminists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Turkish women 21st-century Turkish photographers