From the construction boom to violence against women, refugees to the Gezi protests: a Berlin exhibition of modern Turkish photography captures the Bosphorus nation's turmoil through journalistic yet artistic images.
Image: NarPhotos/Kerem Uzel
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Photographers capture Turkey's unrest and upheavals
The exhibition "Türkiyeli" at Berlin gallery "f hoch drei" shows the work of seven contemporary Turkish photographers. Their critical reflection on hot topics such as refugees and protests express the turmoil in Turkey.
Image: Ceren Saner
Between art and documentation
The range of themes covered in the exhibition is huge: refugees, the war in Syria, police violence in the Kurdish areas of Turkey, the construction boom and gender issues. Kürşad Bayhan's photos of bottles that have been decorated by Kurdish women symbolize the war-like conditions in southeastern Turkey.
Image: Kürşat Bayhan
The Human Chain of Suruç
Magnum photographer Emin Özmen focuses on the conditions in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. "Turkey's Hidden Wars" is the title of his black-and-white series. His works show water cannons and tear gas being used by the police and he captures curfew hours. His photo from January 2015 (above) shows Kurds forming a human chain in Suruç to support Kurdish fighters battling the "Islamic State" (IS).
Image: Magnum/Emin Özmen
Celebration despite war
Thousands of people came to the Newroz new year's festival in Suruç in March 2015, which took place despite the war. Above, men take a break during their journey. Suruç became a symbol of resistance to the IS. Emin Özmen considers his work to be like a documentary: "In order to find solutions to the massive problems in our region, we need to have a detailed picture of what is happening."
Image: Magnum/Emin Özmen
Refugees from Kobane
In his series "Moving Portraits," Barbaros Kayan focuses on the fears of refugees from Kobane who were being housed in camps in Turkey. He wanted to find out what happens when these people return to their home countries. Kayan traveled to Syria and documented the destruction and devastation there.
Image: Barbaros Kayan
New conceptual imagery
Barbaros Kayan also photographed Syrians living in the Turkish refugee camps as part of the series. He placed their silhouettes on photos of their hometowns, creating compositions that confront the viewer with new visual themes.
Image: Barbaros Kayan
Gentrification in Istanbul
Göksu Baysal mainly focuses on the construction boom and gentrification, especially in Istanbul, in his series "Istanbul Reloaded." The pictures depict violence against nature and highlight the rising demand for energy caused by the aggressive building boom.
Image: Göksu Baysal
Monotonous gray
Under the pretext of making the city safer against earthquakes, a program called "urban renewal" is replacing historic neighborhoods with gray landscapes built of concrete. The local population is often too poor to afford these new apartments and as a result is usually driven out of these areas.
Image: Göksu Baysal
Gezi - from protest to civil movement
What started as a protest against the building boom in Istanbul turned into the Gezi Park demonstrations of summer 2013. In his picture series called "Gezi," Kemal Aslan addresses the resistance of the population against the arbitrariness of the political system. For several weeks, thousands of people in Istanbul demonstrated for freedom and against oppression by institutions.
Image: Kemal Aslan
Women between autonomy and oppression
Since the Gezi protests, the role of civil society has become more prominent, and in particular the role of women. At the same time, however, violence against and murders of women continue to increase steadily. Emine Akbaba's series "Precious Blossom" focuses on women who are unable to free themselves from oppression.
Image: Emine Akbaba
Women as victims of violence
In international comparison, violence against women is extremely high in Turkey. Every other woman reports that she has been harassed on at least one occasion. Between 2010 and 2016, more than 1,600 women were murdered in the country. Emine Akbaba, winner of several photography awards, tries to raise awareness through her work about women's rights, gender equality, and freedom of expression.
Image: Emine Akbaba
'Isn't it love?'
Turkey's LGBT movement has also gained more attention since the start of the Gezi protests. "Isn't it love?" is the title of the series that Ceren Saner produced, which highlights images taken at queer parties. In this photo compilation, Saner questions the nature of love - not sexuality. In Turkey, the series is only shown during the Pride Week or at private events.
Image: Ceren Saner
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The title of the exhibiton, "Türkiyeli," means "from Turkey." The rooms of the gallery "f hoch 3" in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, where many Turks live, are filled with selected works by seven emerging Turkish photographers. They document the devastating turmoil and upheavals in their country: civil war-like conditions in the southeast, the war in Syria, refugees, the Soma coal mine disaster, the Gezi protests, the huge construction boom and violence against women. The exhibiting photographers, who include Kemal Aslan, Emine Akbaba, Goksu Baysal, Kursat Bayhan and Barbaros Kayan, critically approach these topics.
Ceren Saner's photography from queer parties received a lot of praiseImage: Ceren Saner
Pictures hang on the walls and a video flickers over a screen. Ceren Saner also belongs to the circle of artists whose work is exhibited here. The photographer was born in Istanbul in 1991. Her photo series "Isn't it love" shows blurred, partly touching bodies. Faces are not visible. The photos, taken mainly at queer parties, were only briefly visible in Turkey.
The reactions to her pictures are usually positive, says Saner. "People often tell me that the photos are different from typical depictions." Because she does not show people's faces in her photos, the focus instead is on the emotions and the movements depicted in the scenes.
Building bridges with exhibitions
The exhibition is curated by Gisela Kayser and Katharina Mouratidi as well as Attila Durak, a Turkish-born photographer. "Turkish photographers are developing a new contemporary visual language," Durak explains. "They depict the war in southeastern Turkey, for instance, through the photo of a glass bottle, which the women of Kobane have decorated with something they crocheted. This is how they explain war to us."
The menacing political developments in Turkey were reportedly at the forefront of the curators' minds as they planned the show two years ago. "Any photograph here," stresses curator Durak at the opening, "has its social background."
At the same time, Katharina Mouratidi says that the exhibition deliberately avoids any kind of polarization or evaluation. She argues that the exhibition presents a generation of photographers that is young, independent and objective and whose work incorporates a reporting style, whereas traditional Turkish photography is predominantly filled with landscapes and portraits.
Kemal Aslan took this photo of protesters waving flagsImage: Kemal Aslan
Stories of people
Emin Ozmen is probably the most famous photographer. His whose work has attracted worldwide attention and received many awards. The photojournalist, born in 1985, works for Magnum. In his black-and-white series "Turkey's Hidden Wars," the photographer deals with the civil war-like conditions in southeastern Turkey, such as the police's use of tear gas during a demonstration of Kurds after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the November 2015 election. Ozmen sees himself as someone who makes documentaries: "my motivation is to tell the story of innocent people."
Co-curator Mouratidi is the artistic director of the "Society for Humanistic Photography," which runs the gallery "f hoch 3." her self-described goal is to raise awareness of different artistic positions. "The intention of the exhibition is not to divide but to unite and build a bridge that goes beyond official policy."
