If someone asked “Who is Mert Karataş?”, I’d love to answer with just one word: “Photographer.” But after the jaundice I had as a baby and the oxygen complications that followed, even being alive was described as a miracle. Since childhood, I’ve learned to push past the limits cerebral palsy drew for me by opening new routes—like a fighter rebuilt from ashes. I think, I learn, I create.
Today, I can’t fit myself into a single label:
I’m a photographer, a writer, a design enthusiast, a creator who breathes through music. At the same time, I’m someone who runs, travels, and pushes limits through science and discipline.
I am Mert Karataş: My starting point
What happened to me as a baby, according to medical reports, was supposed to place heavy limits on my life. Walking, speaking, getting an education—everything was a question mark. In real life, something else happened:
Instead of fighting my body, my brain chose to carve new paths. And inside that process, I met concepts like neuroplasticity, adaptation, and discipline early on.
For me, cerebral palsy became less a “barrier” and more a system that had to be engineered. New movement patterns, intense physical work, mental flexibility, and stubborn curiosity… I’m still continuing the same process today.
Photography
Photography, for me, isn’t just “capturing a beautiful frame”; it’s the interface where my memory opens to the outside world.
- When I photograph the northern lights in Norway, I think about the relationship between light and the nervous system.
- When I shoot everyday life in the streets of Antalya, I place my own struggle with the body alongside the micro-stories inside the crowd.
- In my portrait work, I try to capture not only expressions, but also tension and resilience.
If you want to see my photographs:
👉 Portfolio
Writing
For many years, I’ve been putting my story, my struggle, and my clashes with the system into words. In my autobiographical texts, I write about:
- The neurological, psychological, and social layers of living with cerebral palsy,
- The life I built through hardship in Turkey,
- How sport, art, and science became a single “field of resistance” for me.
The goal of what I write isn’t to “look inspiring.” It’s to keep the process transparent: to show that creation is possible even from inside physical limits—and that this isn’t a romantic success tale, but an organized struggle.
If you want to browse my writing:
👉 Writings
Music & Design
During one part of the day I’m editing photos; in another, I’m learning music production; and in the time that remains, I’m working with design. Because when I lock my mind into a single channel, my output drops—multi-channel creation works better for me.
- By progressing in electronic music and DJing, I want to give life to tracks inspired by my running rhythm and my struggle themes.
- On the design side, I’m chasing a minimalist line with emotional density: the phoenix metaphor, old–new tension, dark backgrounds, strong typography…
All of these fields meet in a single sentence:
I don’t just tell the struggle; I shape it.
Sport, Running, Calisthenics
Living with cerebral palsy, sport isn’t a hobby for me; it’s a daily protocol with my nervous system.
Through running, swimming, and bodyweight training, I work to:
- Keep my muscle tone under control,
- Increase my breathing capacity,
- Make my everyday functional movements smoother.
Every run feels like a new line written over an old sentence that once said, “You can’t.”
For my journey and training-focused writing:
👉 Motivation
Travel
I have a long travel history spanning from Germany to Italy, from Scandinavia to Spain. For me, these journeys aren’t just tourist trips; they’re also field research—understanding how systems, cities, architecture, and social attitudes shape the body–disability relationship.
- In Berlin, I observe how architectural order can open up space for a person,
- In Norway, I feel that harsh but honest relationship nature builds with psychology,
- In Mediterranean cities, I notice what movement and chaos do to my body.
I tell these observations by combining photography and writing:
👉 Travels
My mission
I’m not interested in marketing myself as an “inspiration story.” Yes, there are dramatic moments in my life—but my real focus is this:
- To show that creation is possible while living with cerebral palsy,
- To show that when science, art, sport, and discipline combine, they produce powerful adaptation,
- To show that disabled individuals should be known not only through “support stories,” but also through stories of production.
In short, I don’t let the word “hardship” run the whole sentence by itself.
For my part, I rewrite what I’m given through photography, writing, music, and design.
Get in touch
For projects, collaborations, speaking invitations, and work across photography–writing–music, you can reach me here:
Other links: All my accounts
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @mertkaratash
This page is one of the most honest answers I can give to the question “Who is Mert Karataş?” I’ll keep telling the rest through my photographs, my writing, and my music.