Istanbul Living
Urban Experience Through the Eyes of Tarlabaşı Women
December 2022 - July 2023
ISTANBUL
Various workshops were held for women between the ages of 18-51 living in Tarlabaşı to share their memories of cultural spaces in the city and their experiences of public spaces, through the project “Istanbul Living: Urban Experience Through the Eyes of Tarlabaşı Women”, which focused on the right of women from Tarlabaşı to experience the city and access the cultural spaces in the city.
Despite the close proximity of Tarlabaşı to the center of Istanbul, the exclusion of the people of Tarlabaşı from socio-cultural and political processes causes them to become alienated and vulnerable. Women living in Tarlabaşı are faced with multidimensional social and economic fragility in their lives where they are made invisible. Women, who are ignored in social life by various tools and also disadvantaged in the group within Tarlabaşı, are exposed to various human rights violations as a result of lack of information, patriarchal social structure, state violence and not being able to benefit from public services.
The trips, which were planned in line with the relationship of women with the city and their experiences of places/the places they want to experience, continued regularly with 10 women every 2 weeks. The basic concepts were conveyed by an expert in the photography workshop, which will be at the beginner’s level for the project participants. With the workshop on sharing held before and after the trip, women were supported to construct their narratives about places through photographs taken by women, and women's right to access urban and cultural spaces were highlighted on the agenda through media tools.
