Modern Photographers / V

As a woman in my seventies, I've witnessed the rapid growth of an anti-ageing culture that constantly encourages women like me to be ashamed of our ageing bodies. This culture, heavily promoted in women's magazines and on social media, has escalated over the years, making it increasingly difficult for women to ignore as they age. By encouraging anti-ageing and a youth-focused culture, sexism and ageism against older women become more powerful.

I'd like to share a series of images that I began capturing in the winter of 2020 during the pandemic. With the unexpected free time brought on by the coronavirus, I started taking long walks along the Mississippi River. I was captivated by the ice formations along the riverbanks. Soon my camera joined me on these cold walks.

As Winter arrives on Cape Cod, trees become bare and beautiful in their various forms. At first glance they are just leafless totems, but on closer inspection they are so much more. The twists and turns of branches are almost human-like in form. I see dancers, phantom shapes and everything in between. My imagination takes hold and I riff on their beauty by mirroring, repeating and enhancing their mysterious winter forms into meditative, Mandala-like images. Sometimes a tree is not just a tree.

It was to study at university that I first came to İstanbul. I was very excited that I was going to discover the strangeness, chaos, and anarchy of Istanbul, which doesn’t fit into any classification or discipline. Wandering around the historical peninsula, the place that most reflects the melancholic spirit of the city stuck between the West and the East, caught between the past and the present was my greatest pleasure.

I first visited Cuba in 2013 and have been there many times since. The focus of all my trips there has been street photography, and my experiences on the island have been intense, illuminating, creatively gratifying, sometimes heartbreaking, and often deeply moving.

On December 3rd, South Korea was shocked by the sudden declaration of martial law, and the citizens were shocked at dawn. Fortunately, martial law was lifted that day through the National Assembly, and the citizens came out to the square, waved their cheering sticks, and chanted for the impeachment of the president, and 43 days later, the president was impeached and arrested.

Coney Island Summer is an ongoing series that I started shooting in 2023. In it, I aim to capture timeless charm of "the people's playground" through black and white imagery. By stripping away the distractions of color, the energy, emotion, and atmosphere inherent in the scene are allowed to shine through. As a place steeped in history and affection, Coney Island serves as a bridge between past and present, capturing the essence of nostalgia while celebrating its enduring vibrancy.

Balance in nature is a harmony where no element dominates another, each holding its rightful place and significance. It is not merely the interplay of different forces but the flawless weaving of each part into a unified whole—like a precise mechanism where all elements cooperate and interconnect, creating a seamless unity. Where one ends, another begins, continuing the unbroken chain of existence.

Since 2018, I have been photographing cherry blossoms, drawn to their fleeting beauty. Captured across various locations, weather, and light, these delicate blooms mark both spring's arrival and time’s quiet passage. This series, 'where, in what form, we will meet again', reflects a meditation on impermanence and transformation.