Elisa Zonaro in her youth
There is currently a very exciting photograph exhibition in İstanbul which is about one of the first female photographers of Istanbul and that is Elisa Zonaro at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Elisa Zonaro was the wife of the palace painter Fausto Zanora who had spent more than a decade in Istanbul drawing for the Ottoman court. Elisa and Fausto Zanora were Italians who had become a part of the social fabric of Ottoman society. We know that Elisa Zanora had learnt Turkish and befriended court women to photograph their intimate worlds which were unimaginable before.
Elisa Zonaro’s portrait made by her husband
We know that Elisa had moved to Paris with her young son to study photography for a period when her husband was in İstanbul and she opened her own studio when she returned to İstanbul specialising in portraits of kids and women. She was also keen on taking photos of daily life across İstanbul which was a challenging thing to do for anyone at the time as one needed permission to do so from the Ottoman authorities. Elisa Zonaro was given two medals of honour by Sultan Abdülhamid for her exceptional work in İstanbul.
Dr. Alev Berberoğlu, a young academic from Koç University has done a painstaking PhD thesis on the foot steps of this first female photographer of İstanbul to reveal Elisa’s world to us. The exhibition titled Elisa Zonaro’s İstanbul in Zeytinburnu Cultural Center was made possible due to Dr. Berberoğlu’s meticulously prepared PhD thesis.
The photos we see in the exhibition are replicas of originals preserved by the Zonaro family in family archives. It is a miracle that these photos were preserved for over a century.
It is such a pleasure to see the court ladies and people from all walks of life from a century ago only due to Elisa Zonaro.
Have a glimpse at Elisa’s world through this amazing exhibition.
Abdülhamid’s Harem Women
Harem women in the sweet waters (current Kağıthane) of İstanbul on a promenade
Elisa Zonaro’s daughters in Dolmabahçe
Her husband took inspiration from Elisa’s photos and turned some of these photos into paintings with imaginary details added to them. The above is an example. Elisa’s photo of a young girl on the right has been turned into a painting of Zonaro (on the left).
Women in Sultanahmet
A family by the Bosphorus
A poor İstanbul neighbourhood
Royal procession of Sultan Abdülhamid
It is a delight to glimpse into the world of our ancestors through the gaze of this creative female photographer and a big applause to Dr. Alev Berberoğlu for her passion to uncover this hidden treasure!
