Turkey’s Evolution in Giz’s Snapshots

Selahattin Giz, the most important figure in photographing the Republic’s history, had taken pictures since he was 18. He saw with a thousand eyes. Some of those images — 150 out of his entire collection — are now on display at an exhibition entitled "From Glory to Misery", an exhibition at the Yapi Kredi Culture Center Sermet Cifter Hall.

His snapshots show people walking in Pera, in guilds on the Galata Bridge [deriving its name from the old district of Istanbul, Galata, near the Genovese Tower]. They show families on picnics, and students in class. His photos show an entire life; their mastery, apparent in the adornment he gives to life’s ordinary moments. A photograph of a bureau would have no aura without felt hats hanging on the wall, and the gestures of two women speaking to an officer. A cup of coffee is before them, and a typewriter, on the desk.

The photograph reveals to us a way of life in an historical period, in an era when taking even one photograph was technically difficult. Had he not photographed the fire in Kapalicarsi (Bedesten, or the authentic historical market place) by positioning his camera from the best perspective, and with the appropriate light, he could not have achieved a snapshot that has lived to this day.

What makes Giz an outstanding figure is the large-scale spectrum of his work. On one side we have daily life, on the other, Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

As well, Giz’s lens explored the founder of the Turkish Republic, in distinctive times and in distinctive contexts – at Haydarpasa Station, the Savarona Yacht, the Moda Sea Club, and in a great moment, at the old Dormen Theatre. The story of the Dormen Theatre begins one night when Giz was wandering in Taksim. He stumbles upon an unmistakable car and immediately recognizes that it belongs to Ataturk. He’s mad for a photo of Turkey’s father while exiting the theatre but is rebuffed by his entourage. Dejected, Giz turns to leave, but is stopped by an appeal from behind him. It is Mustafa Kemal himself, and he asks for Giz to take his photo. Giz, delighted and heartened, takes the photo of his dream.

For the rest of us who want to catch Giz’s snapshot, they will have time until the 21st of November.