Hakan Simsek was born in Brussels in 1978. He completed a Masters degree from the Computer Sciences department of University of Brussels. In 2010, he became involved with photography by chance and hasn’t put down his camera since. In 2015-2016, he took a one year MasterKlass with Klavdij Sluban and Nestan Nijaradze in Paris.

With single, static and honest images, the work of Hakan Simsek, Inside Landscapes, explores the multilayered notion of identity by tracing transversal links between the domestic life of members of his community and the territory they inhabit.
“I am an Ixelles-born Belgian-Turkish who grew up in Schaerbeek. Even though I don’t live there anymore, I still refer to Schaerbeek as my real hometown. I know this “little village” and its diverse community very well, mainly the Turkish Arab one. Nevertheless, I always wanted to know more about them."

Since he became interested in photography Hakan Simsek wanted to explore through images something about himself and the place where he belong.

Out of Breath is a serie started with souvenir of a precise moment of his childhood, "the oldest souvenir I have; the day I felt alive, the day I realized I can die." He started very early to questioning himself about his own identity.
In the late 60'ties his parents immigrated to Belgium from Turkey, with his double nationality/identity, He was always asked to chose one of them, "I have this feeling to be in exile everywhere I go. Maybe more than the locations I'm living, the place where I will be buried will define who I am."