• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 

Izmir Diaries 1973-1980

The photographs I took in Izmir between 1973 and 1980 preserve traces of an urban life that has changed considerably over the years. In those days, much more of everyday life took place in the streets and public spaces. Street booksellers, people gathering in neighborhoods, traditional ceremonies, old forms of transportation and fishermen working along the coast were all natural parts of the city. The photographs bring together many different aspects of the period: circumcision ceremonies held in the streets, steam locomotives, people in wide-legged trousers posing in front of a Citroen, and scenes of family life. Among them are also the Tirata fishermen. With their distinctive boats and traditional way of working along the Izmir coast, they were once a familiar part of the city's waterfront life. They no longer exist today. The fishermen I photographed simply as part of everyday life have now become witnesses to a vanished part of Izmir's coastal culture. The second photograph in this series has a special place in my photographic journey. The portrait of a family posing together in their pajamas was selected for the First State Photography Exhibition in 1984. What I photographed at the time simply as an ordinary family scene later became an important image both in my personal archive and in my life as a photographer. Nearly half a century has passed since these photographs were taken. Izmir's streets, waterfront, people and everyday habits have changed profoundly, while some ways of life, such as that of the Tirata fishermen, have disappeared altogether. Looking at these photographs today, I see them not only as images from my youth, but as silent documents of Izmir's disappearing urban memory.