Yıldız Moran

Yıldız Moran was born in Istanbul on July 24, 1932. While studying at RobertCollege, upon her art historian uncle Mazhar Şevket İpşiroğlu’s suggestion, in 1950 she quit her high school education in her last year to
continue an education in photography in London. After studying Photography at Bloomsbury Technical College followed by Ealing Technical College in the UK between 1950-1952, she started her career as a photographer alongside Old Vic Theater’s famous photographer John Vickers.

Her first exhibition was in 1953 in Cambridge, and in 1954 she had five more shows which were all met with phenomenal interest. She travelled through Europe and after preparing a photography book on Spain and
Portugal, she returned to Turkey in 1954. Moran had five solo exhibitions between 1955-1962 and in 1963, she married Özdemir Asaf and had three children in four years which led her to decide to allocate the rest of her life to her family. Her last show was in 1970 in Istanbul. Between the years 1981-1987, Moran prepared all of Özdemir Asaf’s works for publishing, as well as translating his poems and writings to English.
Conveying a universal language in photography through her unique lyrical perspective, Moran was the first Turkish professional woman photographer to earn an academic education. Bringing together the tradition of the East and the aesthetic of the West, Moran documented the geography she resided in through her black and white photography.

Yıldız Moran died on April 15, 1995.