Jury

Cooper & Gorfer comprises the artists Sarah Cooper (US, 1974) and Nina Gorfer (Austria, 1979). Their work focuses on the female aspects of cultural identity. Based on the stories and lives of the women they meet and collaborated with, Cooper & Gorfer explore issues of power, gender, memory, migration, dislocation, and the malleability of identity. Cooper & Gorfer began their collaboration in 2006. They live and work in Gothenburg, Sweden and Berlin, Germany.

Niels Ackermann is a Swiss documentary photographer working for international press since 2007 and a founding member of agency Lundi13. He lives between Kyiv, Ukraine and Geneva, Switzerland. Niels also regularly partners with social, environmental and cultural institutions on documentary projects and workshops.

Ilona Szwarc is a photographer and artist based in Los Angeles, California. Szwarc received an MFA in Photography from Yale University and a BFA from School of Visual Arts. Szwarc’s photographs have been featured in numerous publications worldwide including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, TIME, The UK Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine, Marie Claire, National Geographic, Surface and Nylon.

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Handan Yılmaz founded 212 Studio as a boutique photography production studio and talent agency in 2005. Handan founded 212 as a full service production and artist management agency located in Istanbul. In 2016, it led to the creation of Turkey’s first international biannual arts and culture magazine, 212 Magazine. She continues to put her energies into both the Magazine and her role as director of 212 Photography Festival, which she founded in Spring 2018. She lives in Istanbul.

Basut is a Bosphorus University English Language and Literature graduate and holds a masters degree in Advertising Design. He is currently working as the Creative Director in Manajans/JWT whilst instructing the Copywriting for Advertising and Marketing Class in Bosphorus University – Turkey’s Ivy League. A member of JWT Creative Council under the leadership of Bas Korsten and Matt Eastwood, this year he has been a keynote speaker at Crystal Apple Festival, Brandweek and Epica Creative Circle in Berlin. He’s currently working on a branded documentary which will be aired on National TV.

Sébastien Gobert is a French journalist and writer based in Ukraine. He works as correspondent since 2011 for multiple French-speaking media. He has observed the evolutions of Ukraine’s political life through elections, revolution and war. He is the co-founder of the collective of independent journalists Daleko-Blisko. He is the co-author of Looking for Lenin with Niels Ackermann.

Mehmet Kısmet was born in Turkey, in 1952. Having fallen in love with photography at the age of 12, he constructed his first primitive darkroom in the coal storage room of his family’s small rural home. All the while involved in Turkey’s photography scene of the period, he formed the “FOG Group” with five photographer friends in 1982, which went on to produce documentary works between 1983-1990. In 2003, he founde Istanbul Fotoğraf Merkezi (Istanbul Centre for Photography), with the goal of raising the bar in contemporary photography. He was a member of the founding commitee for the photography department at Istanbul Modern, helping to build the museum’s permanent collection. His photographs can be found within the museum’s permanent collection, as well as amongst private collections in Istanbul, Paris, Frankfurt and New York.