Turkish artist and academician Nevzat Yildirim’s new photography exhibition “Gok Kubbe” (Sky Dome), focusing on Istanbul’s historic domes and mosque silhouettes, opened to visitors at Yildiz Holding’s Camlica Campus in Istanbul.
The exhibition presents Yildirim’s photographic interpretations of some of Istanbul’s most iconic imperial mosques and domes, using layered exposure techniques to create abstract and visually complex compositions.
The opening ceremony on Wednesday was attended by Yildiz Holding Board Member Murat Ulker, Yildiz Holding Chairman and CEO Mehmet Tutuncu, as well as figures from the fields of culture, the arts, and academia.
Speaking at the event, Tutuncu said art plays a key role in carrying civilizational heritage into the future.
Referring to Yildiz Holding’s corporate philosophy of “make happy, be happy,” Tutuncu said the exhibition makes the city’s historical memory visible through artistic interpretations of Istanbul’s domes and mosques.
“Through Yildirim’s lens, Istanbul appears with a unique narrative in which light, time, and space intertwine,” he said, adding that the works invite viewers to reflect on the city’s cultural and historical heritage.
Yildirim said Istanbul’s domes carry traces of a multilayered civilizational memory stretching from the Ottoman era to the present day.
Describing domes as a manifestation of the idea of a “shared sky,” he said they represent some of the strongest visual and intellectual bridges between past and present.
The artist defined “Gok Kubbe” as a photographic series positioned between spatial representation and a love for Istanbul.
“In this work, I aimed to transform domes—among the most iconic architectural forms of Istanbul’s skyline—into a timeless art form on both an optical and intellectual level through the language of photography,” he said.
In remarks to Anadolu, Yildirim said domes have become one of Istanbul’s defining symbols throughout the city’s centuries-long history.
“I tried to express, through photography and layered exposure techniques, dome forms that brought together people of different centuries, beliefs, and cultures under the same roof,” he said.
“These domes unite people. They separate individuals from worldly ambitions and emotions and perhaps allow them to rediscover themselves beneath the form of the dome,” he added.
Yildirim said the dome forms featured in the photographs were produced according to a deliberate aesthetic structure and mathematical calculation rather than by chance.
He stressed that light is the fundamental language of photography and that each work in the exhibition has been created using multiple exposure techniques.
Yildirim's works entered international modern art collections early in his career, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States.
The exhibition will remain open until July 26 at the Yildiz Holding Seminar Hall and can be visited by appointment between 9 am and 5 pm.
