Galeri Nev

For the 2024 edition of Photo London, Galeri Nev is thrilled to present “The Disquiet of Still Life”, the first exhibition to exclusively showcase gelatin silver prints by Yıldız Moran, celebrating the artist’s photographic return to England.

Beginning her journey in 1950, at the early age of 18, Moran, encouraged by her uncle and art historian Mazhar Şevket İpşiroğlu, relocated to London in 1951. There, she studied at the Bloomsbury Technical College and Ealing Technical College and gained hands-on experience with renowned photographers such as Adolph de Meyer and John Vikers. By 1955, Moran had established her studio in Istanbul, becoming Turkey’s first professional woman photographer.

The young Moran quickly moved away from the mechanical and “objective” aspects of photography, using her Rolleiflex as an extension of herself. Initially specialized in portraiture, her work evolved into a poetic exploration of light, shadow, and the nuanced greys of black-and-white photography. Treating landscapes as portraits and vice versa, Yıldız Moran unveils the musicality and undeniable eroticism in still life.

“The Disquiet of Still Life” features clichés from the photographer’s solo travels across Europe and North Africa (1952-1954), as well as her trips with the Anatolian Humanists (1954-1955). Printed in her London darkroom, the images offer insights into Moran’s perspective on documentation and contemplation; an outlook informed by an inviolable feminist stance that challenges traditional views of objectification.

Although Moran’s contributions were last shown in London in 1962, her influence endures in Turkey with solo exhibitions at Istanbul Modern and Pera Museum, attesting to an unprecedented admiration for a woman photographer from Turkey. Following a highlight in Mesher’s “I-You-They: A Century of Artist Women” in 2022, Galeri Nev began to represent the artist’s estate and has organized two solo shows since to honor her work.