Olay: Turkey’s years of strife through the lens of a Magnum photographer
In a decade that saw his homeland go ‘never a week without a drama’, Emin Ozmen recorded day-by-day matters of intrigue and humanity on its streets, Liam James writes
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Your support makes all the difference.A tumultuous decade in Turkey is captured in a vivid and fast-paced series of photographs, in the highly anticipated first book of Magnum photographer, Emin Ozmen.
Olay, meaning event or incident, is a retrospective of Ozmen’s work to date, recounting the years of his homeland in a ceaseless state of turmoil, hit by dramatic events: a failed coup d’etat, popular uprisings, natural disasters, political purges, economic turbulence and ongoing military operations.
The photographer says: “We are constantly being tossed around between violence and quiet daily life. Turkey gives no respite. Never a week without a drama, never a month without a major event.
“Olay is a documentation of Turkey, on the brink of violence and grace. Here, nothing is simple, everything intertwines and clashes, the beautiful as well as the ugly, sadness as well as joy.”
The book includes an extensive timeline introduced by Piotr Zalewski, Turkey correspondent for The Economist, as well as personal texts written by Ozmen, and is co-edited with Cloe Kerhoas.
Emin Ozmen, born in 1985 in Turkey, is a Magnum photographer based in Istanbul.
He joined the prestigious photography collective in 2017 and became a full member in 2022.
For more than fifteen years, he has undertaken a long project of photographic documentation of the social, climatic, and civil troubles around the world, and in his country in particular.
His work has been published by Time magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, Le Monde magazine M, Paris Match and Newsweek, among others.
“For me, there is something more important than good or bad photography. It’s about the quality of your character, it’s about your soul.
“I believe photography follows this and is already a reflection of who you are,” Ozmen said.
Olay (2023) by Emin Ozmen, published by MACK is available here.
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