Between Two Rivers

April – December 2026
ADIYAMAN, BATMAN, DİYARBAKIR, ELAZIĞ, GAZİANTEP, MALATYA, ŞANLIURFA

Between Two Rivers is a documentary-based cultural and artistic project that aims to make visible the cultures of life, collective memory, and everyday practices shaped within the basins of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Through visual storytelling (photography), the project seeks to document the experiences of different communities across the region. Shaped around themes such as belonging, labour, borders, water, and memory in relation to the climate crisis, “small cultures,” and nature polluted by “gold mining sites,” the project explores the region’s changing social fabric through human stories.

The project aims not only to create an archive, but also to establish a public space of memory that makes cultural diversity visible, fosters dialogue between different communities, and focuses on shared experiences of living together.

Ensar Özdemir

Ensar Özdemir (b. 1982, Elazığ) is a Diyarbakır-based photojournalist and documentary producer. Having worked for many years as a court reporter and photojournalist at Anadolu Agency, Özdemir is known for his work focusing on conflict zones in Iraq and Syria, border regions, and refugee movements. Through fieldwork in areas including Mosul, Aleppo, Kobani, Azaz, and Jarabulus, he has documented the social impacts of war and displacement.

Continuing his practice independently, Özdemir has developed documentary and photography projects focusing on human rights violations, forced migration, and the vulnerabilities of everyday life. He has produced 12 short documentary films and authored the book Çürüme [Decay], which focuses on civilians killed by military vehicles and weapons.

In Between Two Rivers, Özdemir explores the multilayered ways of life shaped in border regions, as well as environmental destruction, through visual storytelling.

Connections:

https://www.instagram.com/ozdemirensar/
https://www.instagram.com/iki.nehir.arasinda/
https://www.facebook.com/amirsmages

This page is published on 20 August 2026.