Gazi Yüksel, a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication at Near East University, brings together the visual memory of Cyprus with art lovers with his retrospective exhibition consisting of a 40-year photograph archive.
The 40-year visual memory of Cyprus, reflected through the lens of Gazi Yüksel, a lecturer at the Faculty of Communications at Near East University, is meeting with art lovers. The “Retrospective Exhibition” will present a selection of photographs taken by Gazi Yüksel, who continues to share his experiences as a photojournalist and investigative writer with his students at Near East University, throughout his career. The exhibition will open on Monday, May 12, 2025 at 15.00:XNUMX, at the foyer of the Faculty of Communications at Near East University, with the participation of the Chairman of the Republican Turkish Party, Tufan Erhürman.
The exhibition features a rich selection that reflects Yüksel’s professional knowledge and visual narrative power. From news and sports photographs to black-and-white images created with darkroom techniques, from conceptual macro shots to experimental compositions produced in digital media, the wide range of works will offer viewers a comprehensive experience.
This retrospective is not just an art exhibition; it is also an in-depth look at the transformation of photography in Cyprus over the years. In addition to the frames that witness history through Yüksel's lens, visitors will also be able to closely observe how technology has intertwined with the art of photography.
This journey, extending from the nostalgic magic of the darkroom to the pixel world of the digital age, invites the viewer to an impressive discovery of both the past and the present. The frames that Gazi Yüksel has collected over the years will take their place in the exhibition not only as photographs but also as powerful narratives where collective memory, personal observation and artistic intuition come together.
This comprehensive retrospective, which will open its doors on May 12th and is a reflection of a lifetime of labor, discipline and a vision shaped by passion, can be visited every day between 25 and 08.00 until May 20.00th.
Who is Gazi Yuksel?
Gazi Yüksel was born in Nicosia in 1963. After graduating from Haydarpaşa Commerce High School, he stepped into journalism in 1981 and worked as a photojournalist for the Birlik and Halkın Sesi newspapers and the Turkish Agency-Cyprus for 20 years.
Having won nearly 40 awards in national and international competitions, Gazi Yüksel founded the Northern Cyprus Photojournalists Association in 1991 and served as its president. Having had 12 solo exhibitions featuring news, sports, darkroom and art photographs, Gazi Yüksel repeated some of these exhibitions in various cities in Türkiye. Gazi Yüksel published his photography-poetry-music works titled “Two Faces of Lefkoşa” in 2001, “Yemeni from Cradle to Grave” in 2003 and “Barış Struggle” in 2004. Gazi Yüksel graduated from the Department of Plastic Arts-Painting of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design of Near East University in 2012 and completed his master’s degree in 2018.
Gazi Yüksel has been a lecturer at the Near East University Faculty of Communication since 1991, teaching “Basic Photography”, “Press Photography”, “Studio Photography”, “Advertising Photography” and “Image Processing” courses, and is the Head of the Department of Photography and Videography Vocational School. Yüksel has 7 published books on the history of photography and photography. Yüksel has also been the curator of the Near East University International Photography Days for over 20 years.
