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Istanbul, Turkey |
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Male Composite |
Individual |
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Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and the only city built on two continents – Europe and Asia. It has a population estimated at between 12 and 14 million. Istanbul was established by the Romans on the site of the Greek colony of Byzantium and named Constantinople after the Emperor Constantine. The city became the eastern capital of the Roman Empire and later the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and soon became its capital. After the founding of the modern Turkish state in 1923, the city was renamed Istanbul and was replaced by Ankara as the capital of the new nation. Today Istanbul remains Turkey’s cultural and financial capital and each year attracts some 300,000 migrants from the rest of the country. The ethnic composition of Turkey is 80% Turkish and 20% Kurdish. Istanbul’s make-up would reflect this with sizeable Greek and Roma minorities as well. The official language is Turkish but Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian and Greek are spoken. English and German are widely understood. Istanbul is a case study in globalization and its population was the original inspiration for the Face of Tomorrow. The source of the city’s population over the past thousand years of empire and decline has been incredibly diverse including Greeks, Romans, Seljuk Turks from Central Asia, Arabs, Slavs, Germans, Italians, French and Egyptians. Today the population is relatively uniform as successive waves of migrants have been absorbed. As Turkey’s economy gathers pace the forces of globalization are at work once more. Now Russians, Ukrainians and Georgians as well as Iranians, Iraqis, Ethiopians, Somalis and Mauretanians and most recently Chinese and Koreans are all making their home here. Now Istanbul might need to look to London and New York to see how its future might turn out. Istanbul was the first city in which I set about to find a composite face. I had no idea what to expect and I thought I would have to pay people for their time. Armed with a wad of one million lira notes (about $1 each at the time) we soon created a near riot by men wanting their photo taken. Pretty soon the same faces would start cropping up to claim their “milyon” and I realized I’d have to come up with a different strategy in future. The resulting face represents more specifically Eminönü Markets – a very working class area with a large Kurdish population – most of whom are recent arrivals from the south east of the country. Again, as in Damascus, it was almost impossible to get photographs of women. The only one I managed to get was a young girl of about ten whose father insisted on her picture being taken. Photographer: Mike Mike; Assistant: Memet Aksakal |
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| One poster is available for download: | ||
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© mike mike 2003, 2008 |
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