Photography enthusiasts meet in Beşiktaş

ISTANBUL

Photograph by South Korean artist Atta Kim.

Turkey’s most comprehensive photography display, the 2nd Fotoİstanbul Beşiktaş International Photography Festival, opened on Oct. 9.

The festival, which will take place at Beşiktaş Barbaros Square, Beşiktaş Democracy Park, Ortaköy Orphanage and Ortaköy Culture Center, will bring nearly 60 artists from the U.S., Asia, Europe and Turkey through Nov. 8. 

Nearly 20 world-known photographers including Joseph Koudelka, Anders Petersen, Atta Kim and Stanley Greene will be guests of this year’s festival, in addition to twenty-five Turkish names, including Sıtkı Kösemen, Haluk Çobanoğlu, Laleper Aytek, Kürşat Bayhan, Meltem Işık and Cemre Yeşil. 

Robert Frank is one of the pre-eminent figures of 20th century photography whose work had a significant influence on photographers of his own and subsequent generations. With his method of sequencing and composing pictures to intuitive series expanding beyond the traditional photographic essay, he developed a new way of expression within the medium.

Fotoİstanbul will pay tribute to the life and work of this revolutionary figure of subjective documentary photography with a show presenting an extraordinary selection of his photographs, books, and films, entitled, “Robert Frank: Books and Films 1947–2015.” In addition to Frank’s photobook narratives, the exhibition will also feature his film narratives, presented in digital format.


The lives of ‘Others’ 

The theme of this year’s festival is “The Lives of Others.” The festival team explained, “What actually interests us more is who we are not; we are interested in others. We want to understand them and know them, just as they are. We want to be able to see life, not only from our own perspective but also from that of the other, and to be able to look back at ourselves differently from that ‘Other’ perspective.” The festival is meant “to encounter and share other thoughts, loves, beauties, pleasures and pains, and everything about Others’ lives” and “to come closer to other lives by turning our lenses and not our prejudices upon them, to shine a light on them and share them with the world.”


The organizers hope to emphasize the living of life with “Others” rather than in homogeneous isolation. “For better or worse, and whatever may happen, we would like to know and understand others’ lives. We know another life is possible. And we can only get there if we build it with others,
Curated by Hüseyin Yılmaz and Jason Eskenazi, Fotoİstanbul will also be home to 45 exhibitions, 15 panel and round-table discussions, 80 photo shows, more than 200 portfolio evaluations, book signature days and talks. 

This year’s exciting events will include a photography contest held on Instagram. Held with the collaboration of Everyday Projects, thousands of people from around the world will have the chance to compete. The winners of the contest will get various prizes and their work will be displayed during the festival. 


Ara Güler 

The “Respect to the Masters” event of the festival will host Turkey’s internationally acclaimed photographer Ara Güler. A comprehensive exhibition, also featuring his unseen photos, will also be a part of the festival. The exhibition titled “Lost Istanbul” can be seen in Beşiktaş Democracy Park.

The exhibition will bring visitors to life of the 1950s and 1960s in Istanbul. “These photographs are reflecting a vanishing world, a world that no longer exists, but which still survives within me from my past experience. I have attempted to collect images of a vanished or vanishing way of life. I believe that photography is a form of magic by means of which a moment of experience is seized for transmission to future generations,” Güler says. 

A panel will be held for Güler on Oct. 22. The panel will bring together Coşkun Aral, Simber Atay, Özcan Yurdalan and Paul Mc Millan.