“Home” is a space of freedom for some, and a prison where an opportunity to escape is sought for others. The socio-economic status of a person is the most determining factor in the transformation of the house from a prison into a place of freedom. Despite the assumptions that the pandemic is affecting everyone “equally”, the photos provide evidence that in reality it’s not like that.

Where do you find refuge when there is no place in society for who you are and who you love as a person? This photo series shows a sheltered way of living and the impact it has on the road of life.

Hasankeyf is a historical district in Batman, Turkey. In the district there are a lot of caves where is people used to lived in around ten - twelve thousand years ago. The photos were taken from a few selected caves which are currently forbidden to see. In the photos you can see three different time of Hasankeyf, oldest Hasankeyf which is built thousand years ago, and current Hasankeyf which is built in 1960s and newest Hasankeyf where is people from Hasankeyf has to move.

Overthrown as a result of a storm in an anonymous city park, the trees visualize the tense and spooky atmosphere that has been dominating the country. This silent landscape after the storm refers to the mental breakdown caused by social and political violence. The tree that has lost its roots symbolizes the social memory issues through urban paradoxes.

These barricades were measures against a war that would soon be waged between the Turkish Army and the Kurds. It had taken days of hard work to build these barricades using cobblestones to resist against heavy artillery and battle tanks. Challenging to stand behind a barricade to fight almost meant running the risk of giving one’s life under bombardment. 

Green Road is a construction project carried out by the Turkish government to connect the highlands in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. At the same time this project envisioned to build ski facilities in Kaçkar Mountains. The aim is to increase tourism in this region, but this comes with a great impact on nature. By the time the project is completed, thousands of trees will be destroyed, the mountains will be full of holes, the highlands will be filled with hotels and sports facilities.

We go to jobs we don’t like, commute during rush hour with the military discipline of ants automated to work. We repeat this routine more often than we want to. The capitalist system mechanizes us, regardless of our human needs, and promises us to give back our commoditized natural rights in return for our labor.

The construction of Topcu Kislasi in Gezi Park that was started as part of the pedestrianization project for Taksim drew many activists to start protests against the project because hundreds of trees would be cut. Heavy work vehicles came on 28 May 2013 to plant out the trees, and it had a great place on the social media.