Photography art as a practice of the activist movement

Through history, social transformations and their consequences have always had an effect on the formation of today's culture. Art, in this respect, is not apart from the experiences of social movements, which are one of the components of the progress, and political, social and economic dynamics of the era. Struggle and practices of resistance, which began to emerge especially with the 1848 revolutions, characterized by the emergence of the working class in history and other social movements afterwards, not only effected transformation in every aspect of life, but also crystallized the antagonistic character of art. In this respect, this dissertation tries to analyze the forms of esthetic expressions in visual arts and specifically the activist characteristic of the art of photography and their interaction with social movements. In this dissertation, Europe-centered social movements and activist practices, which constitute alternatives to the existing system beginning with 19th century, are analyzed from the perspective of ever-changing paradigms, and in this context, the progress in our country is evaluated. The practices of the activist movement, which are among the fundamental dynamics of social transformation, developed perception-based discourses for the popularization of its ideology. In its historical process, co-occurrence of activism with the forms of esthetic expressions transformed the art production activities and with the 20th century the avant-garde movement shaped antagonist-activist art practices and transformed it to an organized structure. In modern art practices it generated different opposition channels based on performance. Anti-systemic art practices have a faster and more coordinated contact with society by using means of today's technological opportunities and new media. Activist art, specifically Occupy movements, transformed the methodology and discourse of movements and became an essential part of these practices. Photography in the activist transformation of art has a special importance in parallel with its relation to reality. Owing to its most frequently usage as a medium of individual and social opposition, it transformed photography to a practice of activist movement. After all, photography, which constitutes the memory of social movements and struggles, together with avant-garde art practices constructed an opponent language in the context of creativity and began to aestheticize struggles. In this dissertation, examples are mentioned which emphasize the characteristics of photography concerning different historical periods. Photography as a medium in which every form of art can be used reserves its importance and characteristics which we have already mentioned above, both in modern art practices and today's digital era.