Phantoms of Anatolia

Phantoms of Anatolia is a photographic essay that questions the place of the Armenian genocide in the Turkish collective mind and history. In my search to confront the past with the present, a denied history with the facts, I decided to work with an evocative writing, looking for signs and symbols, in order to reach the essential; clear the images from immediate referents and confront historical facts with today’s reality. I gathered images from places that still hold visible traces of the Armenian presence and history on this Turkish territory. An indescribable void emanates from those places of memories. Showing the reality of this void and transformation in the process of eradication was a way to translate silence and denial. Why photograph and search for traces of a century hold history, when all is left are remnants? Beyond a duty of memory, there was a need to revisit a history that had been collectively denied by successive Turkish governments. A need to reveal its contemporaneity through images. Make tangible through photography the veracity of what was and is no longer, what was and can no longer be visited, cherished and passed on. Today's Erdogan's policy is in many ways a consequence of Turkey's long denial of this dramatic historical event that has shaped Turkey's Republic. He has shown his determination in taking all means necessary, no matter how dictatorial, to rebuild a lost empire, regardless of the consequences on his population and country.