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Kickstarter Campaign
Kickstarter Campaign
Charlotte Schmitz
July 25, 2025
German photographer Charlotte Schmitz is calling for support as her Kickstarter campaign enters its final days. The initiative seeks funding for Balat, a photobook that captures over a decade of documentary work in one of Istanbul’s most diverse and marginalized neighborhoods.
For twelve years, Schmitz has closely followed the lives of women and families in Balat, an area with a significant Roma population – one of the largest yet most marginalized communities in both Turkey and Europe. Her photographic journey began in 2012, with her early images shot on Leica cameras (M9 and M240). Employing participatory methods, Schmitz developed long-term relationships with her subjects, many of whom collaborated in the creative process.
The resulting body of work offers a deeply personal insight into domestic life from a uniquely female perspective – access that Schmitz earned by living in the neighborhood, speaking Turkish, and gaining the trust of local women. The book also touches on the enduring ties between Turkey and Germany, as many of the women’s fathers were once guest workers in Germany, and welcomed Schmitz into their homes.
The trilingual book – published in German, Turkish, and English – will launch in late September with a public event in Balat and Istanbul, celebrating with the women portrayed, their community, and the broader public. The book will then be released internationally by VenAmiga.
The project is a collaboration with Turkish curator Ilgın Deniz Akseloğlu – Schmitz’s partner on her 2019 book La Puente – and acclaimed Polish designer Ania Nałęcka-Milach. It will be printed in Istanbul. All copies pre-ordered via Kickstarter will be uniquely personalized by Schmitz and the women featured in the book.
David RojkowskiFor twelve years, Schmitz has closely followed the lives of women and families in Balat, an area with a significant Roma population – one of the largest yet most marginalized communities in both Turkey and Europe. Her photographic journey began in 2012, with her early images shot on Leica cameras (M9 and M240). Employing participatory methods, Schmitz developed long-term relationships with her subjects, many of whom collaborated in the creative process.
The resulting body of work offers a deeply personal insight into domestic life from a uniquely female perspective – access that Schmitz earned by living in the neighborhood, speaking Turkish, and gaining the trust of local women. The book also touches on the enduring ties between Turkey and Germany, as many of the women’s fathers were once guest workers in Germany, and welcomed Schmitz into their homes.
The trilingual book – published in German, Turkish, and English – will launch in late September with a public event in Balat and Istanbul, celebrating with the women portrayed, their community, and the broader public. The book will then be released internationally by VenAmiga.
The project is a collaboration with Turkish curator Ilgın Deniz Akseloğlu – Schmitz’s partner on her 2019 book La Puente – and acclaimed Polish designer Ania Nałęcka-Milach. It will be printed in Istanbul. All copies pre-ordered via Kickstarter will be uniquely personalized by Schmitz and the women featured in the book.
All images on this page: © Charlotte Schmitz
LFI 1.2019+-
Charlotte Schmitz: Cok Güzelim, Cök Güzel. The Balat district of Istanbul tends towards conservatism. A glimpse behind the scenes reveals a dazzling women’s world full of dreams and stories More
Charlotte Schmitz+-
Charlotte Schmitz is a documentary photographer and journalist using collaborative practices and long term research to challenge traditional documentary perspectives. Growing up in the Danish Minority in Germany, she studied documentary photography in Hanover (BA) and visual culture in Copenhagen (MA). Charlotte’s work has been published by The Washington Post, der Spiegel, die Zeit, among others, and she has had solo exhibitions in the United States, Turkey, Austria and Japan. She is the first recipient of the ‘FotoEvidence W Award’ with her book La Puente, published in 2019. She is currently based at the Baltic Sea, near Flensburg. More
