The women shaping Istanbul’s cultural map

Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

As we mark International Women’s Day next Sunday, it feels only right to dedicate this issue to women who have shaped Istanbul’s cultural and culinary map.

This week, we begin in Boyacikoy, Emirgan, where a young gallery founded by Sule Gazioglu quietly stakes its claim along the Bosporus with a cheeky exhibition titled “Rooted: The Garden Within.” Do check museum websites for special services to women over the weekend — for example, both Pera Museum and Istanbul Modern are free to enter on International Women's Day.

We then move to kitchens, celebrating female chefs in Istanbul and Mardin. And finally, we turn the page to an Australian writer who has spent years observing, chronicling and decoding Turkey, particularly Istanbul and Cappadocia, for an international audience.

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Thanks for reading,

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: Rooted and flourishing 

“Vine over Zeki Pasha Mansion” by Annette Louise Solakoglu. (Courtesy of Sule Gazioglu Gallery)

Tucked along Hekim Ata Street in Emirgan, the Sule Gazioglu Gallery traces its founder’s path from philosophy studies at Galatasaray University to graduate work at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York. Established in 2020, the gallery positions itself between contemporary art and collectible design, collaborating with artists while also advising on collection building and site-specific projects.

Its current show, “Rooted: The Garden Within,” curated by Sule Gazioglu with advisory input from Ece Balcioglu, brings together four practices around a clear premise: nature as the essence of how we think and remember. The works offer a combination of nostalgia, like the botanical prints in the old books, and alternative forms such as Elena Tash’s textiles.

Botanical artist Isik Guner, known internationally for her scientifically grounded plant illustrations, presents watercolors informed by fieldwork and herbarium research. Turkish irises and lilies developed during a recent residency in Japan are rendered with exacting precision. Photographer Annette Louise Solakoglu works through a different discipline of looking. Using scanning techniques, she produces high-resolution images that flatten and intensify detail. In her Istanbul garden studies and works from the “Botanica” series, petals appear almost architectural. Subtle echoes of Dutch still-life painting surface in her treatment of light and transience, though the tone remains firmly contemporary.

Textile designer Elena Tash introduces texture and memory through vintage and antique fabrics. Her layered constructions rely on repetition and handwork, embedding symbolic motifs into materials that already hold histories of use.

Artist at work: Yunus Karma. (Courtesy of Sule Gazioglu Gallery)

Finally, floral artist Yunus Karma contributes sculptural pieces inspired by kintsugi, binding living moss to repurposed vessels. These works can be circled and examined from multiple angles, turning botanical material into spatial experience.

Across painting, photography, textile and sculpture, nature functions here as structure — a measured framework through which perception and memory are quietly tested. This small but compelling exhibition neatly concludes your Emirgan promenade.

Date: Until March 19

Location: Hekim Ata Cad. No: 3/B Boyacikoy, Emirgan

Find more information here.

2. Word on the street: Araka and beyond

Mushrooms and beetroots by Araka. (Courtesy of the Araka website)

Two years ago, The New York Times spotlighted Istanbul’s constellation of female chefs. This week, for International Women’s Day, we return to two names that continue to shape the conversation: one on the Bosporus, and the other on the Mardin plateau.

In Yenikoy, Michelin-starred Araka is Chef Zeynep Pinar Tasdemir’s precise, ingredient-driven kitchen, where small Karaburun squids and her favored beetroot reappear in shifting forms across a menu grounded in local sourcing and quiet rigor; Tasdemir runs a deliberately small team and pushes the waste-free movement further by composting in-house.

In Mardin, Ebru Baybara Demir turned Cercis Murat Konagi — founded in 2001 with 21 local women in a historic mansion — into a model of social gastronomy that earned her consecutive top-10 placements for the Basque Culinary Prize in 2017 and 2018, anchoring her reputation as one of Turkey’s most influential chefs.

Locations: Araka is at Kapali Bakkal Sokak No:8; Yenikoy/Sariyer in Istanbul; and Cercis Mahmut Konagi is at 1. Cadde No:517, 47100 Artuklu/Mardin

3. Istanbul diary

“The Trompettes of Death” by Fereydoun Ave. (Courtesy of Shiva Zayed Gallery)

• As Iran dominates the front pages, Tehran-based Shiva Zahed Gallery opens in Pera with “echos,” bringing together Fereydoun Ave and Shaqayeq Arabi in a quiet yet charged dialogue between memory and material. Founded in the winter of 2026 in Beyoglu, the gallery is dedicated to positioning contemporary Iranian art within a global framework, placing Iranian voices at the heart of Istanbul’s historic art district while fostering cross-border dialogue and sustained international visibility for its artists. Until April 25.

• Nelumbo Studios in Kadikoy returns with the second edition of “The Green Lotus,” curated by the daring Nil Nuhoglu. Four artists “take over” the space in successive 10-day chapters (Guliz Kayahan, Eren Kenar, Kaan Unal and Melek Baydar), foregrounding process and experimentation over polished finality. Until April 26.

• Jazz lovers: Clear your calendar and start buying tickets. IKSV’s 33rd Istanbul Jazz Festival runs from June 30 to July 13, bringing nearly 30 concerts across more than 10 venues — opening with Marcus Miller’s WE WANT MILES!, followed by Thee Sacred Souls and Robert Plant with Saving Grace at Harbiye before spilling into parks, ferries and neighborhood stages. Tickets and info here.