135 - Sabiha Çimen

Sabiha Çimen was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1986. She is a self-taught photographer, focusing on Islamic culture, portraiture and still life.  Sabiha graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University with a Bachelor's Degree in International Trade and Finance, and went on to take a Masters Degree in Cultural Studies. Her Master's thesis on subaltern studies, which includes her photo story, is entitled ‘Turkey as a simulated country’, and was published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2019.  Sabiha has worked on her story entitled ‘Hafız: Guardians of the Quran’ since 2017, traveling to five cities in Turkey to produce ninety-nine portraits on medium format film. With this project, she participated in the World Press Photo Foundation’s Joop Swart Masterclass in 2018, was awarded 2nd prize in the long-term project category of the 2019 World Press Awards, and 3rd prize in PH Museum's Women Photographers Grant. Sabiha is one of five recent new nominees at Magnum Photos. It was recently announced that she has also been awarded the 2020 Canon Female Photojournalist of the year grant which will be used to continue work on her Hafiz project. She has also won another prestigious award but the results of that have not yet been publicly revealed.   On episode 135, Sabiha discusses, among other things: Why she doesn’t yet have a websiteHer project Hafiz: Guardians of the Qu’ranHow the headscarf ban in Turkey impacted her lifeHer portrait project Urban Refugees and why she shot  it at nightHer masters thesis on Subaltan studiesAttending the WPP Foundation Joop Swart MasterclassWinning 2nd in the World Press Photo awardsPhotographers she likes  Her thoughts on becoming a new Magnum Photos nominee     Referenced: Tanya HabjouqaJason EskanaziPaul Klee. Angelus Novus.Walter BenjaminPhilip MontgomeryKsenia KuleshovaTasneem AlsultanSohrab HuraValentina Piccinni and Jean Marc CaimiAndres Gonzalez, American Origami   Instagram | Facebook “I don’t want to be a tourist in my subjects’ life. They become part of my life, which I really need. I like it. It gives me a rich society. I’m feeding myself with them. I am one of them, I feel like. ”