Olgaç Bozalp (TR/GB, b. 1987) is a London-based visual artist born in Turkey. This has bestowed Bozalp with a hybrid perspective of the Eastern and Western worlds. His cultural awareness and sensitivity to personal identities mixed with fashion and documentary is what makes his work feel simultaneously nostalgic and alien. Bozalp explores the world of his subjects by frequently shooting in their homes, providing an intimate portrayal between subject and photographer that is undeniably captivating and informative.
In 2019, Bozalp was featured in the British Journal of Photography’s Ones to Watch issue, where his work was described to be at the forefront of a movement to diversify visual culture, introducing new ideas about gender, beauty and race.’ Bozalp’s images also featured in Aperture’s Elements of Style issue, which investigated the role of style, dress, and beauty in the formation of individual identity. Elsewhere, his work has been published by M Le Monde, T Magazine, Dazed, Dust, Replica, Atmos, whilst he has recently worked with a series of major brands: from Carven and Hugo Boss to Selfridges and Alexander McQueen.
In early 2020, Bozalp visited Songdo, South Korea, to explore ‘Tomorrow City’, a futuristic cement-land fabricated with rows of identical buildings, all elaborately programmed to accommodate every need and convenience of its residence. But it’s unaffordability and lack of soul converted the project into a ghost city. While he was there, the Songdo port reported one of the first cases of the Coronavirus in the country. It made the artist wonder how, if our future can be so intricately designed, unforeseeable events can be taken into account? How is it decided what’s best for us? Through this story, Bozalp will examine our relationship between the here and now and the unknown.
