Istanbul *

The Marmara Sea is the grey blue womb of the growing city of Istanbul. This ancient capital of the Mediterranean has changed many names in the last two thousand years: Constantinopolis, Byzantium then Estambul, recently some named it “Ekumenopolis” : the city without limits, in Turkish “Ucu Olmayan Sehir. With an increasing population of over 17 millions citizens and a few other millions commuting in and out every day, life has become hard for its inhabitants. Hours stuck in traffick to move from home to work, trapped in long rides on crowded buses, breathing pollution make every day an adventure and a struggle. The People who move here in the hope of work and a better future often end up living in its greater borders, hours away from the city centre. The Marmara Seaside is one of the few parks and recreational areas for families and citizens who crave to have a breath of clean air and relax in nature. With my portraits I look at humans and spaces in this changing city. I use a medium format camera, shooting black&white and color. The scans are native from negative, with no color correction. I try to eliminate any esthetic filter between me and the subject in order to to retrieve the dignity of old times photography. My attempt is to document a specific time and a place in modern history. My focus is on the humanity of the people inhabiting border territories and conflict zones. _ GGR 2014