Contact
Biography
His photographs have been featured in prominent publications like Foam Magazine and the British Journal of Photography. Demi's work has been showcased at renowned festivals and venues, including Les Rencontres d'Arles and Istanbul's Pera Museum.
In 2022, his series "Unutursan Darılmam" (No Offence If You Forget, 2018 - 2024) was selected as the winner of Discovery Awards at Encontros da Imagem photography festival.
Onagöre published Demi's debut photobook, "Şehir Fikri" (Notion of a City, December 2022), an eerie portrayal of Istanbul marked by the absence of people, animals, and language. Inspired by Georges Perec's oulipo novel "La Disparition" (A Void, 1969), the book focuses on the city's haunting essence.
His personal work explores the psychogeography of Istanbul, intricately weaving together intimate narratives of the city's landscape with his own lived experiences. While he adopts a documentarian approach to his images (ensuring they are always unstaged), his use of colour to convey a “quiet tension” is prominent in his work.
He’s a member of Connected Archives and an affilite of PLATFORM by GAPO.
Photographer statement
Curriculum vitae
Books
2025 Unutursan Darılmam (No Offence If You Forget, FiLBooks, To be published)
2022 Şehir Fikri (Notion of a City, Onagöre)
Awards
2025 Winner, Fondazione Capri: the Festival of Photography in Capri (17th Edition)
2022 Winner, Discovery Awards, Encontros da Imagem
Nominations
2024 Prix Pictet 2025
2024 C/O Berlin Talent Award 2025
2024 Joop Swart Masterclass
2022 Leica Oskar Barnack Award
Shortlists
2025 InCadaqués Photo Festival Open Call
2025 Verzasca Foto Festival Awards
2025 Images Vevey Book Award 2025-26
2024 Dear Dave, Fellowship
2023 Foam Talent Call 2024-25
2023 Belfast Photo Festival
2021 212 Photography Istanbul
Grants
2018 SAHA, Travel grant for Les Rencontres d’Arles
Teaching
2023 Istanbul in My Lens: Photographing the City, Workshop and portfolio review, Pera Museum
Clients
Publications
Libération (Editorial)
Geo (Licensing)
Harvard Business Manager (Licensing)
Zeit Online (Editorial)
Aposto (Editorial)
Harper’s Bazaar Italia (Licensing)
11Freunde (Editorial)
Der Spiegel (Editorial)
Society (Editorial)
Financial Times (Editorial)
The New York Times (Editorial)
Zeit Magazin (Editorial)
Die Zeit (Editorial)
Kaos GL (Licensing)
Altyazı (Editorial)
Frankie Magazine (Editorial)
NGOs
Climavore (Campaign, Editorial)
Better Shelter (Editorial)
Music
Oil Giant (Album cover, Licensing)
Zorlu PSM (Editorial)
Simge Pınar (Single cover)
Deniz Tekin (Editorial)
Sofar Sounds (Editorial, 2015 - 2018)
Others
Première Vision (Licensing)
Reflect Studio (Commercial)
Press
Highlights
Dear Dave, Magazine (Portfolio, 2025) · Nowness (Video essay, 2024) · DPReview (Interview, 2023) · Foam Magazine (Feature, Print, 2023) · Turkey Book Talk (Podcast, 2023) · Creative Review (Photography Annual, Feature, Print, 2022) · British Journal of Photography (Feature, Print, 2022) · Booooooom (Feature, 2022) · WePresent (Profile, 2022)
Interviews
theMagger (Söyleşi, 2025) · Lenscratch (Interview, 2024) · Raandoom (Interview, 2024) · Ve Diğer İşler (Podcast, 2024) · The Urbanaut Podcast (Podcast, 2024) · Onagöre Blog (Söyleşi, 2023) · Hyperallergic (Interview, 2023) · ArtDog Istanbul (Söyleşi, Print, 2023) · Calling #2 (Söyleşi, 2022) · Maviblau (Interview, 2022) · Yerden Yüksek (Açık Radyo, Söyleşi, 2022) · Calling (Söyleşi, 2022) · Bant Mag (Söyleşi, 2022) · 212 Studio (Instagram interview, 2022) · ERRR Magazine (Interview, 2022) · Anywhere Blvd (Interview, 2022) · Urbanautica (Interview, 2022) · allcitiesarebeautiful (Interview, 2022) · Fotoğraf Konuşmaları (Podcast, 2021) · Kaleydoskop (Interview, 2021) · Trendland (Interview, 2021) · VSCO (Interview, 2019)
Others
La Repubblica (News, 2025) · Rast Magazine (Hikaye, 2024) · this isn’t happiness #2 (Feature, 2024) · Perimetro (Feature, 2024) · photo-letter (Feature, 2024) · Adventure.com (Article, 2023) · Cargo (Feature, 2023) · revue EPIC (Feature, Print, 2023) · Safelight Paper (Feature, 2023) · Pera Museum Blog (Story, 2023) · Switch Magazine (Feature, Print, 2023) · Decalogue Magazine (Feature, 2022) · Der Greif (Feature, 2022) · Art Unlimited (Editorial, 2022) · Fisheye Magazine (Feature, 2022) · Bir Kare Bir Anlam (TRT 2, Documentary, Episode 13 & 17, 2022) · Broad Magazine (Feature, 2021) · Ain’t Bad (Feature, 2021) · C41 Magazine (Feature, 2021) · Subjectively Objective (Feature, 2021) · this isn’t happiness (Feature, 2021) · Istanbul Art News (Feature, Print, 2019) · Fabrika Zine (Feature, Print, 2018) · L'Œil de la Photographie (Feature, 2017) · GUP Magazine (Feature, 2017)
Mentions
Open Doors (Instagram feature, 2025) · Eyeshot Magazine (Instagram feature, 2025) · Dear Dave, Magazine (Instagram feature, 2024) · Polka Magazine (Instagram feature, 2024) · Milk (Instagram feature, 2024) · Yogurt Magazine (Instagram feature, 2022) · The Museum of Modern Art (Instagram feature, 2022) · Nowness Asia (Instagram feature, 2021) · Noice Magazine (Instagram feature, 2021) · AnOther Magazine (Instagram feature, 2021)
The Manda Festivali (Water Buffalo Festival)
Campaign for Climavore
More pictures
Documentary
Commissioned by Climavore for the Manda Festivali (Water Buffalo Festival), this series documents the owners and herders of Istanbul’s last remaining water buffaloes and offers a glimpse into the changing landscape of the city’s northern outskirts. The portraits were taken alongside the animals themselves, with the aim of raising awareness about the fragility of the city’s wetlands and the people whose livelihoods depend on them.
My journey took me to northern villages where the city’s rural past still clings to life. In the shadow of the new Istanbul Airport, locals continue to practise mandacılık (the traditional rearing of water buffaloes) producing milk, kaymak (clotted cream), and even buffalo milk ice cream. These customs endure not just as economic activity, but as cultural memory passed down through generations.
But the landscape is rapidly changing. Mining pits, shopping malls, and metro extensions now encroach on these agricultural zones. The airport has triggered a wave of development, turning once-quiet villages into contested terrain. The displacement of the buffaloes (and the communities who care for them) is, unfortunately, imminent.
Through formal yet intimate portraits, I sought to capture the dignity of the herders and the bond they share with their animals. Each frame is an act of witnessing, made in quiet resistance to an urban logic that erases both ecology and labour in favour of concrete. As a photographer working with the psychogeography of cities, I approach such margins as spaces of memory, loss, and tension.
This project forms part of my ongoing work exploring Istanbul’s transformation under neoliberal and authoritarian pressures. By giving visibility to rarely seen communities, the story invites reflection on land use, ecological justice, and the future of Istanbul’s peripheries.
The resulting images were exhibited publicly as part of Manda Festivali in September 2025 and are also intended for publication in print and online platforms for Climavore’s campaign.