"her yer taksim" (meaning "everywhere is taksim") is the first part of
the slogan of the Gezi Park protests of 2013, which largely took place on
Taksim Square in Istanbul.
The square itself has a complex past, the name Taksim is derived
from a former water distribution system, an Armenian cemetery existed
once there and at the beginning of the 20th century there was even
a memorial to the Armenian genocide for a short time, which disappeared
under unexplained circumstances.
Today, the "Monument to the Republic" visibly commemorates the founding
of the Turkish Republic in 1923; the fact, however, that the square has always
been the site of demonstrations by Turkish trade unions, left-wing parties and
youth movements in Istanbul, as well as the scene of the Taksim massacre
in 1977 and the Gezi-protests of 2013, remains hidden from view.
In the summer of 2014, I spent several days walking in circles around the
square, taking portraits of people; handheld only, to create the effect
of an undisturbed moment and a shared experience. This blurring of the
boundary between artist and participant, observer and observed, also
introduces, as time is repeatedly stopped by the shutter release, an element
of unpredictability and vulnerability.
The square itself remains merely the backdrop to this cyclical motif, which
invites to constantly redefine our relationship to the known and the
familiar.