If Only You Knew
EXHIBITION
From the late 1960s, more and more women from Turkey came to the Netherlands to build new lives. What did those lives look like? We know very little about it. My book and exhibiton 'If Only You Knew' bring the stories of these women to light and give them a lasting place in Dutch history.
Bir bilsen… If only you knew… Many women begin their life stories this way when I visit them. Like Maviye, who fought for women's rights, and Selvet, who worked three shifts a day and barely saw her children as a result. Twenty-two of them are portrayed through interviews, photos from family albums, and new portraits of the women, who are now between sixty and eighty years old.
They talk about the pain of migration, homesickness, getting lost, and finding their way. Working, taking care of children, learning the language. Love and unhappy marriages. Being restricted as women and striving for emancipation. Their contribution to the Dutch economy as factory workers or cleaners, and their struggle for freedom and equal rights. Their stories are diverse, layered, and ambiguous, as every human experience is.
If Only You Knew is a multimedia project and photobook that will be on display at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until May 2025. The photo book is available through Nai010 publishers.
Bir bilsen… If only you knew… Many women begin their life stories this way when I visit them. Like Maviye, who fought for women's rights, and Selvet, who worked three shifts a day and barely saw her children as a result. Twenty-two of them are portrayed through interviews, photos from family albums, and new portraits of the women, who are now between sixty and eighty years old.
They talk about the pain of migration, homesickness, getting lost, and finding their way. Working, taking care of children, learning the language. Love and unhappy marriages. Being restricted as women and striving for emancipation. Their contribution to the Dutch economy as factory workers or cleaners, and their struggle for freedom and equal rights. Their stories are diverse, layered, and ambiguous, as every human experience is.
If Only You Knew is a multimedia project and photobook that will be on display at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until May 2025. The photo book is available through Nai010 publishers.
Credits:
Research, interviews and photography: Çiğdem Yüksel
Concept: Çiğdem Yüksel, Eefje Blankevoort, Frederiek Biemans
Texts: Hızır Cengiz
Essays: Merel Bem, Sinan Çankaya, Hızır Cengiz, Suzanna Jansen, Meral Polat
Historical text: Mila Lemmens (Stichting BMP)
Editing: Eefje Blankevoort & Frederiek Biemans
Tekst editing: Lara Aerts, Çiğdem Yüksel
Translation English: Roxy Merrell, Janey Tucker, Ruth Hopkins
Translation Turkish: Hanneke van der Heijden, Aslı Güneş
Photo editing: Çiğdem Yüksel, Frederiek Biemans, Frits Giertsberg
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Photograhy Vrouwen te Gast: Bertien van Manen
Assistant Bertien van Manen: Iris Bergman
Lithography: Marc Gijzen
Printing: NPN Drukkers
Projectleiding: Laura Verduijn, Prospektor
Publisher: Laurence Ostyn, nai010 uitgevers
Assistents research & photography: Seleme Aydın, Afsaneh Ghafarian Rabe’I, Zehra Göktaş, Ece Meşe, Simaa al-Saig, Dimitri Valentijn
Research, interviews and photography: Çiğdem Yüksel
Concept: Çiğdem Yüksel, Eefje Blankevoort, Frederiek Biemans
Texts: Hızır Cengiz
Essays: Merel Bem, Sinan Çankaya, Hızır Cengiz, Suzanna Jansen, Meral Polat
Historical text: Mila Lemmens (Stichting BMP)
Editing: Eefje Blankevoort & Frederiek Biemans
Tekst editing: Lara Aerts, Çiğdem Yüksel
Translation English: Roxy Merrell, Janey Tucker, Ruth Hopkins
Translation Turkish: Hanneke van der Heijden, Aslı Güneş
Photo editing: Çiğdem Yüksel, Frederiek Biemans, Frits Giertsberg
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Photograhy Vrouwen te Gast: Bertien van Manen
Assistant Bertien van Manen: Iris Bergman
Lithography: Marc Gijzen
Printing: NPN Drukkers
Projectleiding: Laura Verduijn, Prospektor
Publisher: Laurence Ostyn, nai010 uitgevers
Assistents research & photography: Seleme Aydın, Afsaneh Ghafarian Rabe’I, Zehra Göktaş, Ece Meşe, Simaa al-Saig, Dimitri Valentijn
If Only You Knew
EXHIBITIONFrom the late 1960s, more and more women from Turkey came to the Netherlands to build new lives. What did those lives look like? We know very little about it. My book and exhibiton 'If Only You Knew' bring the stories of these women to light and give them a lasting place in Dutch history.
Bir bilsen… If only you knew… Many women begin their life stories this way when I visit them. Like Maviye, who fought for women's rights, and Selvet, who worked three shifts a day and barely saw her children as a result. Twenty-two of them are portrayed through interviews, photos from family albums, and new portraits of the women, who are now between sixty and eighty years old.
They talk about the pain of migration, homesickness, getting lost, and finding their way. Working, taking care of children, learning the language. Love and unhappy marriages. Being restricted as women and striving for emancipation. Their contribution to the Dutch economy as factory workers or cleaners, and their struggle for freedom and equal rights. Their stories are diverse, layered, and ambiguous, as every human experience is.
If Only You Knew is a multimedia project and photobook that will be on display at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until may 2025. The photo book is available through Nai010 publishers.
Bir bilsen… If only you knew… Many women begin their life stories this way when I visit them. Like Maviye, who fought for women's rights, and Selvet, who worked three shifts a day and barely saw her children as a result. Twenty-two of them are portrayed through interviews, photos from family albums, and new portraits of the women, who are now between sixty and eighty years old.
They talk about the pain of migration, homesickness, getting lost, and finding their way. Working, taking care of children, learning the language. Love and unhappy marriages. Being restricted as women and striving for emancipation. Their contribution to the Dutch economy as factory workers or cleaners, and their struggle for freedom and equal rights. Their stories are diverse, layered, and ambiguous, as every human experience is.
If Only You Knew is a multimedia project and photobook that will be on display at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until may 2025. The photo book is available through Nai010 publishers.
Credits:
Research, interviews and photography: Çiğdem Yüksel
Concept: Çiğdem Yüksel, Eefje Blankevoort, Frederiek Biemans
Texts: Hızır Cengiz
Essays: Merel Bem, Sinan Çankaya, Hızır Cengiz, Suzanna Jansen, Meral Polat
Historical text: Mila Lemmens (Stichting BMP)
Editing: Eefje Blankevoort & Frederiek Biemans
Tekst editing: Lara Aerts, Çiğdem Yüksel
Translation English: Roxy Merrell, Janey Tucker, Ruth Hopkins
Translation Turkish: Hanneke van der Heijden, Aslı Güneş
Photo editing: Çiğdem Yüksel, Frederiek Biemans, Frits Giertsberg Translation Turkish: Hanneke van der Heijden, Aslı Güneş
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Photograhy Vrouwen te Gast: Bertien van Manen
Assistant Bertien van Manen: Iris Bergman
Lithography: Marc Gijzen
Printing: NPN Drukkers
Projectleiding: Laura Verduijn, Prospektor
Publisher: Laurence Ostyn, nai010 uitgevers
Assistents research & photography: Seleme Aydın, Afsaneh Ghafarian Rabe’I, Zehra Göktaş, Ece Meşe, Simaa al-Saig, Dimitri Valentijn