At the age of 14 (1978), Cengiz Özek learned how to handcraft Karagöz figures from his arts teacher Ali Kıyak, who was a student of the great Karagöz master Ragip Tuğtekin. Without any additional lessons in performing, Özek developed his skills on his own and made his first show at the Atatürk Bookstore in Istanbul. Özek opened his first Karagöz exhibition at Kazım Taşkent Arts Gallery when he was 17 years old (1981). After much interest by the visitors, he continued to host further exhibitions at Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia Museum and private galleries. Until today he has opened more than 30 exhibitions, also in foreign countries such as Rome (1996),

Strasbourg (1997 & 1999), ermany, Leipzig (2008), Colombia, Cali (2003 & 2014), Bad ,Kreuznach, Germany (2017), Malmedy, Belgium (2016), Pecs, Hungary (2017). Collections of Özek can be found permanently at the National Museum of Holland, Pakistan Lahor Puppet Museum, Taiwan Taipei Puppet Museum, Taiwan Taipei Puppetry Art Center, Doha Qatar Islamic Arts Museum, Germany Stuttgart Linden Museum and Spain Tolosa Puppet Museum. He also curated a vast exhibition on Karagöz for the Yapı Kredi Culture & Art Center (with a detailed exhibition catalogue) and took in charge as editor for a Karagöz book published by the Istanbul Municipality Publishing House. Later on he studied miniature painting and drawing which gave him the chance to take part in restoration projects of important places such as the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace,

Grand Bazar and the Hagia Irini Church. In 1986 he entered the Istanbul Theatre Conservatory. After his graduation he worked as Director, Manager, Stage Designer, Actor, Costume Designer and Graphic Designer at important theatres such as the National Theatre, Istanbul City Theatre, Bakırköy Municipality Theatre, Dormen Theatre and Kenter Theatre. He was the Stage Designer of various theatre plays at Kenter Theatre. He also teached in Mimar Sinan Conservatory on Traditional Turkish Theatre. Cengiz Özek wanted to pursuit a different direction with Turkish shadow theatre. After performing most of the classical Karagöz plays, he decided to produce new performances with the spirit of today’s audiences and emphasize his work on manipulation technique and

structure of today’s puppet theatre. Thus he created “Magic Tree”, “Garbage Monster” and “Magic Lamp”. he first production was “Magic Tree”, a play based on the shamanistic sources of Karagöz and compiles elements from a selection of the authentic and old performances still known. Having a vast repertoire of classical Karagöz plays, Cengiz Özek Shadow Theatre produced its first modernization of Karagöz with “Garbage Monster” with the theme of environmental awareness. Throughout his career as a Shadow Master (Hayali), Cengiz Özek has until today done workshops, conferences, exhibitions and performed more than 1000 times abroad as well as received various awards around the world.