Sabiha Çimen

Sabiha Çimen (born 1986) is a Turkish photographer. Her series Hafiz, about girls at Quran schools in Turkey, was shown in a solo exhibition at Kunsthal, Rotterdam. For Hafiz, Çimen received a W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant, 2nd Prize in the Long-Term Projects category of the World Press Photo award, and the First Photobook Award at the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards.

Early life and education
Çimen was born in Istanbul to an ethnically Kurdish Persian family. She graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University with an undergraduate degree in international trade and finance, and a master's degree in cultural studies. Her master's thesis on subaltern studies, which includes her photo story "Turkey as a Simulated Country", was published in 2019. She is a self-taught photographer.

Life and work
Çimen's book Hafiz: Guardians of the Qur'an (2021) shows the daily lives of students at girls-only Hafiz schools throughout Turkey. "Hafiz" means "guardian" and refers to people who memorize the Quran. Çimen spent 3 years herself studying in such a school, where she returned to in 2017 to begin making this autobiographical work. She went on to photograph Quran schools elsewhere until 2021.

Çimen became a Magnum Photos Nominee member in 2020.

Personal life
Çimen has a twin sister.

Publications

 * Turkey as a Simulated Country. Cambridge Scholars, 2019. ISBN 978-1-5275-1821-6.
 * Hafiz: Guardians of the Qur'an. Red Hook, 2021. ISBN 978-1-7376814-0-3. Edition of 2000 copies.

Solo exhibitions

 * Hafiz, Visa pour l'Image, Perpignan, France, 2022
 * Sabiha Çimen: Hafiz, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands, January–May 2023

Group exhibitions

 * Close Enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum, International Center of Photography, New York, September 2022 – January 2023, included Çimen's Hafiz

Awards

 * 2018: 3rd Prize, PHmuseum Women Photographer Grant
 * 2020: W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant Recipient. One of five co-winners.
 * 2020: 2nd Prize, Long-Term Projects category, World Press Photo for Hafız
 * 2020: Canon Female Photojournalist Grant, for Hafiz. An €8,000 award.
 * 2022: Winner, First Photobook Award, Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards for Hafiz