The doors of 'An Adventurous Architect's Photography Studio' have opened

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Istanbul Research Institute is hosting a photography exhibition that sheds light on the multifaceted world of Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu, one of the unique figures of the early years of the Republic. The exhibition, titled The Photography Studio of an Adventurous Architect: Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu 1893–1982 , brings together a period of Koyunoğlu's life with the audience through the photographs he took.

The exhibition, which was brought together with art lovers at the opening on Wednesday, June 18 and compiled from the Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu Photography Collection, focuses on a period from Koyunoğlu’s student years at the School of Fine Arts, where he received his architecture education, to his professional and personal endeavors in Istanbul and Anatolia, from the Balkan War to World War I. In addition to Seljuk and Ottoman structures in different cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa, Nevşehir and Kırşehir, detailed images of the Türk Ocağı Building in Ankara, designed by Koyunoğlu, can also be viewed in the exhibition.

Compiled from the personal archive donated by the Koyunoğlu Family to the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, the exhibition features city views, architectural details, portraits, streets and scenes from daily life as visual testimonies to both an individual narrative and Türkiye's modernization process.

Turkish Hearth Building, Ankara, Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu Collection.

A VERSATILE PERSON

Speaking at the press conference held for the exhibition , Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Board Member and Culture and Art Enterprise General Manager Özalp Birol stated that Koyunoğlu was a versatile, very well-raised person from the late Ottoman period and early Republic period, and said, " Despite coming from a very good family, he was a person who managed to live in very difficult conditions, an architect who created the monumental buildings of the republic... As they say, he is a person who cannot be described enough or who cannot escape any task. My teammates worked on the very valuable donation of his family and prepared this small but magnificent exhibition. I would like to thank him on behalf of our foundation ."

Starting her speech by thanking the Koyunoğlu family and the exhibition team who donated their collection to the İstanbul Research Institute , İstanbul Research Institute Director Gülru Tanman said , " Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu is one of those people who has taken his place in the history of Turkish architecture, especially during the process of Ankara becoming the capital, he changed the face of the city such as today's Painting and Sculpture Museum, Ethnography Museum, and some residences in Yenişehir. Therefore, he is a name that especially architectural historians have written a lot about, and he has also published his ideas about architecture and photography. Those who know him expect this exhibition to be an architecture exhibition. Of course, we also have a section about architecture, but I would like to emphasize that this is a photography exhibition. Koyunoğlu bought a camera when he was 10 years old and never put it down throughout his life. I think another important point is that Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu is a person who has told his memories in a way that we have not seen in his contemporaries. He has told them in a very entertaining and detailed way."

Tanman stated that Koyunoğlu, who ran from one adventure to another, witnessed and captured many historical moments with his camera, from the photographs he took in Sarıkamış to the photographs he sent to Harp Magazine, and that they wanted to highlight Koyunoğlu's photography, which he described as his second profession, with this collection.

ABOUT ARİF HİKMET KOYUNOĞLU

Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu was not only an architect who designed iconic structures of early Republican architecture such as the Turkish Hearth Building and the Ethnography Museum , but also a traveler, soldier, gallery owner, journalist and photographer who worked in more than 30 different jobs throughout his life. Koyunoğlu, who was introduced to art and craft at an early age, recorded both his experiences and the cultural and spatial transformation of the period throughout his life with his first camera, which he acquired at the age of 10.

He photographed the shocking ruptures experienced during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, on the fronts, in the streets, in workshops and in homes; he produced visual documents with aesthetic concerns in frames shaped by his architectural vision. He continued this interest professionally from time to time, sometimes in a refugee camp, sometimes on the front, and sometimes in the Underground Photography Studio he opened in the heart of Istanbul.

The exhibition also makes visible the life story of Koyunoğlu, the brave and combative son of a mother who grew up with Sultan Abdülaziz's mother, Pertevniyal Sultan. Koyunoğlu, who worked as an architect and also took on jobs such as porterage, cookery and insurance expert to make a living during the years of war and exile stretching from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from Erzurum to Naples, also progressed parallel to the construction process of Türkiye.