Shortly About Me

Zeynel Plateau, 1975 Turkey

I was born in Izmir in 1954. My master introduced me to photography in the 1960s. I took my first photograph in 1970. In 1973, my art teacher encouraged me to open an exhibition and I did. I was still a high school student at Izmir Ataturk Lisesi at the time. The same year, I hitchhiked across Turkey. The vastness of my country and the diversity of the people made me realize that I had a lot of work ahead of me. In 1978, I graduated from the School of Political Science at Ankara University. I have been capturing the cultural, historical, and natural assets of Turkey since 1970. I shared my work with viewers through 39 solo exhibitions and 12 group shows in Turkey and 15 group shows abroad. My works were published in a number of media organs and a TV documentary was made about me. I also appeared on live interviews. I received several awards in Turkey and abroad since 1975. The international awards of the last three years are as follows: In February of 2013, I received the Grand Prize at the photography competition "Learning for Life, Working to Grow" organized by the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography and the European Union as part of the International Thessaloniki Photo Biennale. In 2013 and 2015, I won five Performance Awards in different categories of the Humanity Photo Awards organized in China by UNESCO and CFPA*. During the award ceremony celebrations in China, a toast was made in my honor for lending meaning to the lives of other people with my works and for creating awareness about their lives. In 2013 and 2014, my two different socio-cultural projects were included among the best 100 entries in book The Other Hundred, organized in Hong Kong by the Global Institute For Tomorrow and centered on the theme "The Unspoken Quiet Majority." Two consecutive times, I was chosen one of the best 100 photographers in the world in the category of storytelling. The printed photograph album was sold in numerous countries across the world. In 2015, I was awarded the Allard Prize given by The University of British Columbia, Canada to photographers working in the field of human rights. In 2015, this prize was given to four photographers in the world. My works generally include long-term projects on Anatolian cultures and human rights, such as Romanis, Alevis, Armenians, Yuruks, and refugee camps.

Biography with images