Born in Istanbul, Arzu Arbak graduated from Istanbul University’s Department of Mathematics and completed her master’s degree in web-based technologies. The loss of her beloved son Alper in 2006 became a turning point in her life; she left the corporate world and devoted herself to photography, using it as a tool for healing and inquiry. Her series “Eksik” (Missing) stems from this loss and focuses on the existential dualities of being human. She continued taking courses at Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts and participated in workshops on visual culture, film analysis, and photographic narrative. Her works have been exhibited in various international photography festivals, galleries, and art fairs, and she collaborates with artists from different disciplines.

Arbak uses photography as a means of expression and reflects on its inherent potential. Her ongoing project “Visual Conversations” is built around the relationship between the photograph and its subject, and she continues this work with different groups, believing in the power of collective practice. The project also serves as a source for her personal works. She questions the city she lives in and its impact on the individual through her own life experience. The individual in daily life, as well as women’s and children’s rights, existence, and the human–nature relationship, form the core of her artistic inquiry.