Honorable Mention / 2023 / Special / Others “Special”

• Photographer
  Bahar Kural, United States
• Studio
  Bahar Kural Photography

Of the 3,000 mosques in Istanbul, the 1,700 year old Byzantine Orthodox Church, Hagia Sophia, is the most popular. Since its conversion from a museum into a mosque in 2020, it has been inundated with locals and Muslim tourists during prayer times. As in other mosques throughout this country, women and men are separated by a screen. Men pray in the light-filled center of a mosque right under the dome whereas women pray in the dark periphery. Therefore women are unable to make the same emotional connection to a mosque as men and cannot enjoy its serenity and sense of space.