50 23 November 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113Photo Stories
ALL IMAGES © ÖZGE SEBZECIL
ast year was a good one for the
career of 31-year-old Turkish
photojournalist, Özge Sebzeci.
As well as being the winner of the
Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award (MSFA),
she was selected from over 600 applicants as
one of 10 Magnum Foundation Photography
and Social Justice Fellows.
The Magnum program’s mission is to
expand diversity and creativity in documentary
photography. Özge met her fellows in New
York for intense and extensive classes. ‘The
fi rst time I went for a month and learnt how
to use a 360 camera and other technologies.
I was encouraged to tell visual stories in a
different way,’ explains Özge. The MSFA
award has allowed Özge to progress the
photo-reportage for which she won it. ‘I Am
Beautiful... But My Destiny...’focuses on the
prevalence of marriage and divorce among
Syrian refugee children settled in the Anatolian
region of Turkey. As a result of the war in Syria,
many families married off their teenage
daughters hoping it would protect them. Many
of the child marriages fail and can leave the girl
without rights and facing stigma.
‘It’s not an easy project, it takes time to
connect with the people. I can’t go there and
just click away,’ Özge clarifi es from her
apartment in Istanbul where she lives. A
well-connected member of the Syrian refugee
community helped her access girls and their
mothers. ‘I would spend time with them, get to
know their stories, show different aspects of
their life. We don’t really see that represented
in the mainstream media. I want to show
the diffi culties but also the intimacy and
ordinariness within families, the other roles in
their life, like being a parent or having a job.
These people should be photographed in an
honourable way.’
According to the United Nations Population
Fund, child marriage rates are estimated to
be four times higher among Syrian refugees
today than before the war. The project brings
awareness and exposure to the issue and will,
hopefully, contribute to ending the practice.The photographs are respectful: Mune and
her daughter Lemve, are photographed
embracing, heads nestled tight in each other’s
necks. Mune was 15 when she got married
and became pregnant shortly after, and her
husband left 20 days after she gave birth. She
says he was abusive and is relieved that he’s
gone but struggles to care for Lemve. In
another photograph, a slightly apprehensive-
looking Abdullah, 22, who works in a shop
selling mobile phones, is photographed at
home in Ankara holding a red heart-shaped
balloon, part of a fi rst wedding anniversary
surprise for his 17-year-old wife, Emine.Trying times
‘I Am Beautiful...’ is a diffi cult story to tell in
a country where it’s diffi cult for journalists
to work. Although refuted by the ruling
government, reports suggest over a hundred
journalists have been jailed in Turkey, including
friends and colleagues of Özge. Despite press
freedom being compromised, she insists
on staying to work as an independent
photographer. ‘Still images can be very
effective but I’m open to experiment
through other mediums.’
One recent tool Özge has utilised has
been a podcast. On Spec is a platform
for independently produced long-form
documentary storytelling put together by a
team of eight freelance journalists including
Özge. In episode one, she addresses the issue
of journalism on trial. ‘It’s my fi rst radio story on
how young journalists keep on working despite
diffi cult conditions. It’s about how they cope in
a harsh journalistic landscape. The government
here was already jailing the opposition press.
After the 2016 failed coup, it seized on the
chance to shut down whoever they didn’t like.’
Özge’s reporting and photography is crucial
in awakening a wider audience to a
seldom-seen Turkey.Eastern
promise
Peter Dench talks to Özge Sebzeci about her
diffi cult yet important project, facilitated by the
Marilyn Staff ord FotoReportage Award
15-year-old ‘H’
shows off her
engagement ringKhadija
photographed
in 2019There’s still time to enter this year’s Marilyn Stafford FotoAward,
which closes for submissions on Friday, 13 December 2019.
Visit fotodocument.org/fotoaward.