Cemre Yeşil Gönenli is a Turkish photographer and artist living in Istanbul. She holds a BA in photography from Istanbul Bilgi University and an MA in Visual Arts from Sabancı University. In 2017, she left her practice-based PhD at the London College of Communication. Her work has been exhibited and published internationally, including in The Guardian, International Center of Photography New York, British Journal of Photography, Colors Magazine, La Fabrica, 6 mois, Istanbul Modern Museum, and Salt Beyoğlu.
Her 2020 book Hayal & Hakikat won the Best Photobook of the Year award at PhotoEspana 2021. The same book was shortlisted for the Photobook of the Year Category and Historical Book Award at the Paris Photo Aperture Photobook Awards and the Recontres Arles 2021. She was also nominated for the Paul Huf Award at Amsterdam Photography Museum FOAM in 2014 and 2021, the ING Unseen Talent Award in 2016, and the Lead Awards in 2016. British Journal of Photography’s "Ones to Watch" issue (February 2015) introduced her as one of the 25 most promising new talents in a global survey of emerging photographers, featuring her work ‘For Birds’ Sake’ (in collaboration with Maria Sturm). This work was also a finalist at the PHE OjodePez Award for Human Values, the Renaissance Photography Prize, the Arles Author Book Award, and Prix Levallois.
Her works are included in the collections of the Houston Center for Photography, the New York Library, Istanbul Modern Museum, and RISD Library. She currently lectures on photography in Falmouth University’s MA Photography program and at Istanbul Bilgi University’s BA in Visual Communication Design. She also works as a writer, curator, and publisher. Recently, she published her book Double Portrait, in parallel with her exhibition at the Milli Reasürans Art Gallery, which was shortlisted for the PhotoEspana 2021 Best Photography Book of the Year Award. The work is the result of nine years of research and practical exploration into photographic double portraiture; a hybrid book of photographs and essays on the themes of a mother’s embrace and absence.
Cemre Yeşil Gönenli is also the founder of FiLBooks, a space dedicated to photobooks, artist talks, and workshops, which became a publishing house in Karaköy, Istanbul in 2017.
