FOTOFEST-2025 – A Breath Amid Flames, Smoke, and the Scent of Ash

We sincerely hope that the devastating forest fires—born in an atmosphere of helplessness and exhaustion, where the gravity of the threats posed by the global climate crisis to our world and our country was not foreseen, where the magnitude of potential damage was underestimated, and where no precautions were taken despite the lessons of past fires and sorrows—will mark a moment of rupture toward what is good, beautiful, scientific, and technical.

Our forests that have perished in these ever-growing fires, the thousands of living beings burned to ashes alongside them, the heroic people who gave their lives in the fight against the flames—all of this leaves us with deep pain, but above all, with shame.

If you wish to witness and become part of the rupture moments—moments that will take us back to their own time, sometimes making us smile, sometimes saddening or delighting us, but more than anything, making us think, showing us what we are or what we may become—through the photographs, talks, workshops, and presentations of distinguished artists, then join us at the 15th Bursa International Photography Festival, Bursa FotoFest, held under the theme “Time of Rupture” from December 12, 2025, to January 12, 2026, in cooperation with Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, the City Council, and BUFSAD.

For the forests, meadows, waters, and soils of our country and our city—and most importantly for our children, youth, women, and special individuals—we proudly and joyfully present Bursa FotoFest under the theme “Time of Rupture”. We see it as a way to show our defiance, our struggle, our support, and our faith in change toward what is good and beautiful, and to rekindle our hope. This year, in its 15th edition, the festival will take place in Bursa at the Merinos Atatürk Congress and Culture Center, in various venues and halls across the city, and—implemented for the first time—on a Traveling Exhibition Bus.

We hope this festival, which will be a breath for our people under the heat of the flames, in this dark, smoke- and ash-scented air that painfully confronts us with our helplessness, will renew hope and faith in the future. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports and contributes to the festival, to the photographers who will enrich us with new perspectives on life and our environment, and most of all to our curators.

We wish for this festival to strengthen our determination to live together, our resilience, and our solidarity; to ensure that all the values and beauties Bursa offers—shared with every living being and our beloved animal companions—are distributed fairly; to inspire pride in being a resident of our city; and to increase our energy and desire to create a green, blue, and white city—healthy and resilient, as in the past. We greet all our stakeholders with respect, affection, and friendship.

Professor. Ertuğrul Aksoy
President of City Council