Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

As we mark International Women’s Day next Sunday, it feels only right to dedicate this issue to women who have shaped Istanbul’s cultural and culinary map.

This week, we begin in Boyacikoy, Emirgan, where a young gallery founded by Sule Gazioglu quietly stakes its claim along the Bosporus with a cheeky exhibition titled “Rooted: The Garden Within.” Do check museum websites for special services to women over the weekend — for example, both Pera Museum and Istanbul Modern are free to enter on International Women's Day.

We then move to kitchens, celebrating female chefs in Istanbul and Mardin. And finally, we turn the page to an Australian writer who has spent years observing, chronicling and decoding Turkey, particularly Istanbul and Cappadocia, for an international audience.

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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: Rooted and flourishing 

“Vine over Zeki Pasha Mansion” by Annette Louise Solakoglu. (Courtesy of Sule Gazioglu Gallery)

Tucked along Hekim Ata Street in Emirgan, the Sule Gazioglu Gallery traces its founder’s path from philosophy studies at Galatasaray University to graduate work at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York. Established in 2020, the gallery positions itself between contemporary art and collectible design, collaborating with artists while also advising on collection building and site-specific projects.

Its current show, “Rooted: The Garden Within,” curated by Sule Gazioglu with advisory input from Ece Balcioglu, brings together four practices around a clear premise: nature as the essence of how we think and remember. The works offer a combination of nostalgia, like the botanical prints in the old books, and alternative forms such as Elena Tash’s textiles.

Botanical artist Isik Guner, known internationally for her scientifically grounded plant illustrations, presents watercolors informed by fieldwork and herbarium research. Turkish irises and lilies developed during a recent residency in Japan are rendered with exacting precision. Photographer Annette Louise Solakoglu works through a different discipline of looking. Using scanning techniques, she produces high-resolution images that flatten and intensify detail. In her Istanbul garden studies and works from the “Botanica” series, petals appear almost architectural. Subtle echoes of Dutch still-life painting surface in her treatment of light and transience, though the tone remains firmly contemporary.

Textile designer Elena Tash introduces texture and memory through vintage........

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