Exhibition: "Exodus-Déjà Vu"

Date: November 17-December 1, 2017
Place: santralistanbul Campus, ÇSM-Entrance Hall

Panel: November 17, 2017 /14.00-17.00
Moderator: Assoc. Prof.  Pınar Uyan Semerci (BİLGİ Department of International Relations; Center for Migration Research)
Panelists: Coşkun Aral (Photojournalist), Roland Neveu (Photographer), Suthep Kritsanavarin (Photographer), Balca Arda (Adjunct faculty, BİLGİ Department of International Relations)

The panel and exhibition "Exodus-Déjà Vu" are organized by İstanbul Bilgi University Center for Migration Research in collaboration with Visioncy.

The exhibition Exodus-Déjà Vu focusing on the refugee crisis throughout the world showcases photojournalists and photographers who have closely followed and captured the perilous journey of refugees throughout time. It documents the war and the people fleeing, and builds a consensus by interconnecting people speaking different languages, living different lives but sharing the same “human rights”. 

The panel accompanying the Exhibition "Exodus-Déjà Vu" will be moderated by Pınar Uyan Semerci with the participation of Coşkun Aral, Roland Neveu, Suthep Kritsanavarin and Balca Arda.

About the participants:

Coşkun Aral embarked upon his career as a professional press photographer in 1974, working for the newspapers Günaydın and Gün. In the following years, he worked as the Turkish correspondent of SIPA Press in Paris and was several times featured in news magazines such as Time and Newsweek, while also serving as a freelance photographer for the Turkish News Agency and the newspapers Milliyet and Hürriyet. Coşkun Aral has been working extensively in war zones, covering nearly all the wars and conflicts of the world since 1980, witnessing refugee crisis many times before.

Roland Neveu started with his career in early 1970s when he captured anti-Vietnam War protests. The young Neveu was one of the few western photojournalists who witnessed the fall of Phnom Penh to Khmer Rouge in 1975 and became famous for the exceptional photos he shot. For almost two decades, he travelled to war zones all over the world to document on the spot for papers like Time and Newsweek. His international reputation as a photojournalist enabled him to establish as well in film industry. He has been working with eminent directors like Oliver Stone, Brian de Palma and Ridley Scott.

Suthep Kritsanavarin as a photojournalist has chronicled environmental, social, and humanitarian issues in Southeast Asia for nearly two decades. His work is based on the firm belief that a photojournalist must act as a conscientious observer of society and culture, and he has to contribute to social change on a local and global level. Suthep Kritsanavarin has worked on an investigative report on Rohingyas since 2009. His work has chronicled Rohingyas’ horrifying journeys from Burma and Bangladesh to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and even to Australia. 

Balca Arda received her PhD in the Department of Political Science at York University, Canada. Her dissertation “The Sublime in Contemporary Art and Politics: The post-9/11 Art of the Middle Eastern Diaspora in North America” builds on art theory and ethnographic study in dialogue with diaspora studies, postcolonial literatures and critical approaches to identity politics and representation. During her undergraduate studies of political science at Boğaziçi University in Turkey, she co-founded “Davetsiz Misafir” (The Uninvited Guest), an intellectual journal of science-fiction, cinema and critique. From 2008-2010, Balca Arda was also visual artist resident in Borusan Artcenter. Her recent art exhibitions were in Cedar Ridge Gallery in Toronto and Gallery MCRD in Istanbul. She lectures in several universities as adjunct faculty. 

Pınar Uyan Semerci is Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations of İstanbul Bilgi University and the director of the Centre for Migration Research at the same university. She received her doctoral degree in Political Science at Boğaziçi University. She teaches courses on political philosophy, comparative politics, social policies, and methodology in social sciences. Her research interests focus on universalism, global justice, human development, capability approach, poverty, migration, collective identity formation, and child well-being, on which she has been conducting several research projects and has various publications.

Contact: rc.mig@bilgi.edu.tr

For more information: http://www.exodus-dejavu.com