BIO

Ömer Tevfik Erten, also known as ÖTE (b. 1990, Mardin),

is an artist working primarily with photography. Their practice traces boundaries and thresholds within narratives shaped by gender, the body, and the production of space.

ÖTE works with questions. Informed by inquiries like “Is there space?” (2013-2022) and the guiding question of their current practice, “What does the image invoke when a boundary is breached?”, ÖTE’s work reveals the spectral layers beneath digital surfaces, summoning an in-between elsewhere where the real and the imagined coexist simultaneously. Their images are haunted by luminous spectres that refuse sanctification, regarding even the possibility of resurrection with suspicion. These ghosts appear both radical and fragile, fragmented yet whole. For ÖTE, the boundary is a fissure in the history of photographic representation and in ways of seeing, a crack through which light leaks.

Between 2020 and 2023, the artist co-curated the queer solidarity network Through The Window Project. ÖTE’s work has been recognised with numerous awards, including the Trans X Turkey Grand Prize (2013), Prince Claus Fund Seed Awards (2022), PREE Fertile Ground Writing Competition (2024), and the 43rd Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize (2025). Based in Istanbul, the photographer continues to challenge academic modes of representation at the Photography Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, while seeking out new playgrounds for expression.

Photo by Volkan Kızıltunç

CV

Education

2011–2017 — Galata Photography House, Workshops
2022 — Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Photography Department

Solo Exhibitions

2014 — trans*house, Karşı Sanat Çalışmaları, Istanbul
2017 — Burçak, Galata Photography House, Istanbul

Group Exhibitions

2015 — MAP’15, Mamut Art Project, Istanbul
2015 — Mekan Atölye II, Cer Modern Arts Center, Ankara
2015 — Nerdeen Nereye, Istanbul Pride Week Art Exhibition, Istanbul
2016 — House My Dreams or Shepherd, Studio X Istanbul, Istanbul
2017 — Artist's Utopia, 27th International Artist / TUYAP Art Fair, Istanbul
2017 — Selected Photobooks, 3rd Istanbul Photobook Festival
2019 — Lost on the Highway, Soho House, Istanbul
2021 — Aesthetics of Struggle, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul
2023 — I'm not good at catchy one-liners..., Tarabya Cultural Academy Summer Festival
2024 — YUVA-HOME, na+ctrl collective, Barın Han
2024 — The Face of the Image: A Zeynep Sayın Lecture, ARTHAN GALLERY
2024 — A COLLECTOR'S STORY, Taviloğlu Collection, İş Sanat
2025 — Akbank 43rd Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition
2026 — The Promises of Monsters, Hara İstanbul
2026 — Edirne Biennale, Turkey

Publications

2014 — Photo Notes: Gezi Resistance, Galata Photography House
2017 — Memory Book, Galata Photography House
2019 — Guest*House Photobook, Self Published
2019 — shelTer, Album Cover, Müstesna Records
2020 — Latif Photobook, Self Published
2021 — Freak Out As Long As I'm Living, Faz Collective & FAİL Books
2024 — KaosQ+, “Death, Mourning and Ghosts”, Writer & Photographer
2026 — KaosQ+, “Voice”, Writer & Photographer

Films

2013 — Unnamed, Fictional, 02:29’ (Director, Writer)
2019 — Guesthouse*, Documentary, 10:00’ (Director, Photographer)

Selected Screenings

2020 — Guesthouse*, 9th Pink Life Queerfest, Turkey
2020 — Guesthouse*, 4th LGBTI+ Youth Festival, Turkey
2021 — Guesthouse*, 10th Pink Life Queerfest, Turkey
2021 — Guesthouse*, 32nd Munich Turkish Film Days, Germany
2022 — Guesthouse*, 4th Soura Film Festival, Germany

Lectures / Master Classes / Workshops / Residencies

2016 — Guest Artist, Contemporary Photography, Koç University
2017 — Exhibiting Photography, Workshop w/ Natasha Christia, Noks Art Space
2017 — Dummy Book Workshop, FUAM w/ Kazuma Obara, Istanbul
2019 — I Have a Project, Portfolio Show, FujiFilm, Istanbul
2023 — Following Eros: The Other Side, Resident Artist, Loading Art Space, Diyarbakır
2023 — I'm not good at catchy one-liners..., Workshop w/ Mona Mahall & Aslı Serbest, Tarabya Cultural Academy
2024 — Democratic Approaches to Photography, Workshop, VATOZ Platform & Fotoğraf Evi, Istanbul

Grants / Prizes

2013 — Unnamed, Short Film Grand Prize, Trans X Turkey
2017 — FUAM Photobook Award, Short List Prize
2019 — Production Grant, Netherlands Consulate-General, Istanbul
2020 — Production Grant, Netherlands Consulate-General, Istanbul
2021 - 2023 — Production Grant, Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam
2022 — Seed Awardee, Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam
2025 — 2nd Prize, Fertile Ground Writing Competition, PREE x Prince Claus Fund
2025 — Akbank 43rd Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition
2025 — Conceptual Photographer of the Year, FOTON (Association of Photography Organizations)

Relevant Experiences

2019 — Curator, 1+1: Strong Together, Boysan’s House, Istanbul
2020–2023 — Co-Curator, Through The Window Project