After graduating from the Department of Journalism, She worked as a photojournalist for a while and then turned to academia. She completed her doctorate in the fields of ethnography and photography. In 2006, she studied at The Academy of Performing Arts, Film and TV School (FAMU), Department of Still Photography in Prague. The "Intimate Revolt" exhibition, which she curated, received support from FAMU and the Ministries of Culture of Lithuania and the Czech Republic. This exhibition, consisting of self-portraits by ten women photographers from ten countries, was displayed in several places, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Turkey. She held solo exhibitions titled "My Self-reflexive Diary: The Balkans (Toronto-2017)", "The Faces of the Prisoner (2002)", "Children of Maticni (2008)", and "Narodni DIvadlo (2008)". Between 2018 and 2022, she participated in numerous national and international exhibitions. She was selected for workshops organized by World Press Photo in Turkey between 2002 and 2004. In 2011, she founded the Living Women Photography Group, which produced photo and video projects addressing violence against women and children. She has written articles for various magazines and compilation books. Between 2016 and 2017, with the support of TUBİTAK, she conducted research at the Ethnography Center of the University of Toronto, focusing on families originating from various ethnic and religious backgrounds that migrated from Turkey to Toronto and engaged in intermarriage. In 2023, she published the book "Visual Sociology." Özdamar Akarçay continues to conduct academic studies and field research in the areas of visual sociology, ethnography, photography, identity, and gender, as well as engaging in photographic projects and curatorial activities. She serves as a professor in the Department of Visual Communication Design at ESOGU in Turkey.

Exhibition Space: Pancar Deposu