Product Description

The series “rural shades” documents the symbiosis of nature and human around Eastern Anatolia. The central subject matter is the relationships of the different religious and ethnic minorities, such as Alevis, Kurds and Armenians. The genocide of the Armenian population, also known as Aghet (Աղետ “catastrophe”), not only occupies the minds of many historians worldwide, but in Turkey this event is still relativised and denied by the highest state institutions. The Erzincan region in particular plays a very central role in the persecution and expulsion of Armenians.

My mother’s village in the provincial town of Erzincan in the county of Çayırlı (formerly Piriz) is the starting point of the series and is intended to create an arc between today and the traces of Armenian life in the region.

Many of the religious and institutional buildings have fallen into disrepair or have been replaced by schools and mosques. The assimilation of other minorities such as Kurds and Alevis is still an integral part of Turkish state doctrine. In Piriz, my mother’s village, people from the Black Sea region were settled in the first half of the 20th century and now make up the majority of the village community.

Hahnemühle FineArt W.T. 310g | 59,4 x 42 cm
Kodak Portra 160 120mm 6×7 C41 Negativ
Year: 2021