The Women Who Raised Me
The film set out to explore how gender is lived, shaped, and negotiated through everyday practices among women across generations in Türkiye. Beginning from my own position within my family and neighbourhood, I was interested in how knowledge, care, and labour are shared, learned, and embodied over time. The film asks how women’s lives are structured by both visible and subtle forms of expectation, from access to education to marriage and professional constraints, and how these differ across rural and urban contexts.
Rather than presenting fixed conclusions, the film follows conversations, gestures, and routines to understand how inequality is experienced in daily life. The film also observes how women create spaces of solidarity, continuity, and resistance within these conditions. By working from an autoethnographic perspective, I sought to reflect on my own relationship to these stories, and to consider how growing up among these women has shaped my understanding of gender, memory, and belonging.Filming focused on collective moments, particularly scenes of women gathering, talking, and working together. While these conversations were often layered and overlapping, they revealed the depth and texture of shared experience, even if not all could be included in the final edit. At times, as difficult memories surfaced, I observed how women supported one another through these moments, highlighting the relational nature of care within the group. The process remained observational and participatory, with minimal intervention.
The completed film was later shared with participants, creating a moment of collective viewing and reflection, and highlighting the role of relationships in the filmmaking process.