Dr. Fatma Ecem Ergin is an architectural photographer, researcher, and Assistant Professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. With a master's degree from Pratt Institute and a PhD from the Bartlett School of Architecture, her work investigates the intersections of media, architecture, and urban environments. Her photographs focus on capturing the peculiar juxtapositions of urban landscapes to reflect the hidden narratives and visual dialogues within cityscapes.

About

Apart Together, the debut solo exhibition by Dr. Fatma Ecem Ergin, presents a world of contrasts and peculiar juxtapositions, where the unexpected harmony of urban landscapes reveals layers of meaning in the built environment. Known as a “building peeper,” Ergin has spent years exploring cities, capturing moments where buildings of contrasting scales, materials, and ages coexist in ways that surprise and intrigue. Her photographs collapse the physical depth of urban settings into layered, two-dimensional perspectives, inviting viewers to reconsider the interplay of the everyday and the extraordinary.  

This collection spans ten years of Ergin’s life, reflecting her travels and experiences acro Istanbul, New York, London, and beyond. Each city, with its unique spatial characteristics, imposed its own style and rhythm on her work, shaping her photographic practice in distinct ways. The images presented here are as much autobiographical as they are explorative, charting her journey through spaces that shaped her understanding of architecture, urbanity, and human interaction with the built environment.  

Central to Ergin’s work is the concept of “apart together,” a phrase she uses to describe how her photographs bring disparate elements into dialogue. In real life, buildings stand apart, separated by space, time, and function. Yet, in her photographs, these structures collapse into a single plane, creating relationships and tensions that are only visible through her lens. This sense of duality—of separateness and connection—runs through her work, resonating with the complexities of human relationships and the layered narratives of cities themselves.  

The exhibition design amplifies this theme, recreating the experience of city-peeping f the viewer. Freestanding photographs are displayed in front of rope walls that evoke the lines of urban landscapes. These rope walls extend to the floor, transforming t photographs into architectural elements—buildings in their own right—and inviting visitors to navigate the space as if they were exploring a city. This immersive setup encourages viewers to approach each photograph from tilted, side perspectives, mimicking Ergin’s own vantage points and offering a new way to engage with the built environment.  

Ergin’s photographs range from visually noisy compositions, packed with intense shapes and textures, to minimalist ones that emphasize simplicity in form and colour. This deliberate juxtaposition within the exhibition creates a dialogue between complexity and clarity, chaos and calm. It mirrors Ergin’s pursuit of balance and her fascination with the poetic resonances of the mundane. These contrasts invite viewers to linger, to look closer, and to find meaning in the unexpected.