Biography

Üzüm Derin Solak (b. Nurhak, 1981) is a photographer, business owner, and DJ based in Istanbul. She began her career working as a server in alternative venues in Beyoğlu, before transitioning into venue management, where she integrated DJing into her work to explore the unifying power of queer music. Through her performances, she has contributed to the visibility of queer individuals, positioning music not just as a form of entertainment but as a tool for sociality and community building.

Her experience in venue management has shaped her understanding of creating spaces where art and culture converge. By managing venues that reflect Istanbul’s cultural diversity, she has aimed to create safe and inclusive environments where queer individuals can freely express themselves through music, art, and community events.

Transitioning into photography, Üzüm has developed projects focused on urban memory and queer identities. She investigates the relationships queer individuals and queer feminists establish with the city, its art world, and night life. Taking into account the socio-psychological, economic, and cultural implications of the country’s political climate, Üzüm archives street life and images of protest. Her work documents the impact of urban and social transformations on minoritized communities. Through her photographs, she examines the relationship between personal and collective narratives and the city’s entertainment landscape, while also contributing to the visibility of queer lives.

Currently residing in Istanbul, Üzüm began her photography journey with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to capture the socio-psychological and cultural dynamics of Istanbul’s streets. Beyond the stories of LGBTQ+ rights violations and victimhood, she creates biographical portraits blended with daily sketches to highlight shared public spaces in the city’s collective memory. Her photographs emphasize gender identities, the diversity of sexual orientations, and social, class, and cultural differences, aiming to portray the everyday forms of queer life without criminalization.

Her photographic work engages a broad spectrum of queer experiences, documenting various activities, spaces, and dynamics within her social circle and queer communities. Since the onset of the pandemic, she also has extensively photographed feminist protests. She continues to express political processes and solidarity, both individually and collectively, through her work. As a trans woman, Üzüm produces autobiographical narratives in her photography, questioning what photography would look like when stripped of its historically heteronormative, male-dominated gaze and redefined through a queer feminist perspective.

Her work has been featured in academic publications as well as alternative media outlets across the country. Üzüm is currently developing a comprehensive archive of photography and video focused on Istanbul’s queer history and memory, aiming to make the city’s contemporary queer vibrancy more visible.