
Burak Bulut Yıldırım
Fine Art Photographer — Berlin
Artist Statement
These photographs are made in an era when images of the body are generated, filtered, composited, and synthesized at an unprecedented scale. Against that condition, my practice insists on a different order of image — one made in the room, in front of the camera, through the slow collaboration of light, material, and time.
Across nineteen years I have worked on the nude not as subject but as a surface through which other things can be thought. Four series form the spine of the practice. UnNude treats the body as sculptural geometry, where hard light carves gesture into architecture. Chimera fractures the figure through damaged mirrors and refractive surfaces, producing anatomies that exist only within the optics of the camera. Lucida dissolves flesh into ultraviolet pigment and long exposure, where the body becomes a phosphorescent membrane. Antemortem works with veils, draped textiles, and durational captures to hold the figure at the threshold of disappearance. Each series is a different regime of surface mediation between body and light.
The transformations happen inside the camera. Damaged mirrors, ultraviolet pigments, long exposures, textile interventions — these enter the photograph at the moment of exposure, not afterwards. Digital post-production is part of my working process, as it is for any contemporary photographer, but the image’s central decision is made in the shoot. This is not a position against digital tools; it is a position about where the work is located.
Nineteen years, ten series, one sustained question: the photograph promises a single image of the body, yet no single image can contain what a body is. Each series is a different response to that insufficiency — not a solution, but a way of working with it.
Biography
Burak Bulut Yıldırım is a Berlin-based fine art photographer working at the intersection of the nude, light, and materiality. Born in Istanbul in 1982, he began his professional life as an arts journalist before turning fully to photography in 2005.
His fine art practice has developed across ten long-term series, with work shown in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. He is a member of the German Portrait Photography Society (BPP) and holds an International Artist Card from the German International Fine Arts Society (IGBK). From 2018 to 2026 he held the position of Sony Europe Imaging Ambassador.
He divides his time between Berlin and Istanbul, and is relocating his primary studio to London in 2026. His works are available as limited edition archival prints and are held in private collections across Europe.
Studio & Process
Behind the practice — the studio, the light, the long conversation between camera and subject.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2025 — UnNude: The Architecture of the Body, Die Akt Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- 2024 — Dress Code: Light, Die Akt Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- 2019 — Black Light, Volksbank Gallery, Heilbronn, Germany
- 2019 — In Haste / Ayaküstü, Abraham-Gumbel-Saal, Heilbronn, Germany
- 2016 — We Can Do It, Galeri 77, Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
- 2014 — In Haste, Pinelo Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
- 2014 — Peddlers / Tezgâhçılar, Istanbul, Turkey
Group Exhibitions
- 2026 — Nudes of Istanbul (upcoming, July 3–19), Die Akt Galerie, Berlin, Germany — curator
- 2025 — Portraits, Fogae Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2023 — Eros & Thanatos, XVal Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- 2019 — Bodies in Movement, Loosen Art Gallery, Rome, Italy
- 2015 — LandsNude, Artcore Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece — curator
- 2009 — II. International Fashion Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
Awards
- 2025 — Annual Photography Awards, Honorable Mention (Dysmorphia, Body & Nudes)
- 2019 — Photoshoot Award, Nude Art, Merit
- 2017 — International Photography Awards, Fine Art Photography, Honorable Mention
- 2012 — International Photography Awards, Fine Art Photography, Honorable Mention
Publications & Reviews
- 2024 — Aedra Fine Arts, curator review by Michael Hanna. Read
- 2019 — Claudia Ihlefeld, “Sich begegnen und zuhören: Türkische Kulturtage in Heilbronn”, Stimme DE. Read
- 2019 — “Burak Bulut Yıldırım’ın Sergisi Almanya’da”, Artful Living. Read
- 2019 — “Burak Bulut Yıldırım Fotoğraf Projeleri ile Almanya’da”, Gazete Sanat
Exhibitions & Events
Gallery openings, press moments, and public presentations from recent years.








