Through Photos: A City’s Protest, The Protest of Cities

BursaFotoFest, Turkey’s largest and only international photography festival, returns for the 14th time with the theme "The City’s Protest," curated by Laleper Aytek. The festival will once again meet our valued public at the Merinos Atatürk Cultural Center and various venues across our city.

This festival stands as a testament to our uprising, our struggle, and our belief in the change towards good and beauty. It is driven by the pressing concerns that weigh heavily on us: wars affecting our world, our surroundings, and our country; people being displaced from their homes; children who should be smiling towards the future with joy, peace, and hope but are instead being killed—our most innocent ones; our abandoned friends on the streets; people condemned to poverty and hunger; and our country’s forests, meadows, water sources, and lands being plundered.

We believe that the protest of our surroundings, our city, and its inhabitants can best be captured, expressed, and made eternal by the lens of an artist's sensitivity and perspective, making us experience and reflect on the moment through a photograph.

In this spirit and belief, we are proud and thrilled to organize the festival in cooperation with Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, Bursa City Council, and BUFSAD (Bursa Photography Art Association), bringing together master photographers with the public of Bursa for the 14th time.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to making this festival a celebration, festivity, and feast for our people through the perspectives and protests of the photographers, each one creating their own world within their frames and talks. Special thanks go to the participating artists, our public, and, above all, our curator.

Professor. Ertuğrul Aksoy
President of City Council