Diyarbakır Arts Center hosted the ‘Yazidi’ exhibition April 5-30, 2008, which comprised works by Hüsamettin Bahçe, a photographer living in Diyarbakır. The exhibition featured photographs he took between 2005 and 2006 in the regions of Laleş and Shengal, where the Yazidi community densely resides. This photography project was designed as a step towards eliminating the distance between the peoples of the Middle East, who are geographically and culturally close to one another but do not know each other well. The photographs focusing on the religious and social life of Yazidis, whose number is estimated to be around 800,000 globally, aimed to break superficial opinions and prejudices. Hüsamettin Bahçe photographed Yazidis again in 2014, years after the first exhibition. This time, Bahçe’s photographs revealed how Yazidi society was affected by the war, during which they were the target of ISIS attacks. The second exhibition took place at Diyarbakır Sümerpark Amed Art Gallery, the same year.
