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Personal statement by Turkish Magnum photographer Emin ÖZMEN
"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. Here, nothing is simple, everything intertwines and clashes, the beautiful as well as the ugly, sadness as well as joy." (Emin ÖZMEN)
Background information
Meaning ‘event’ or ‘incident’, Olay is a powerful chronicle of a tumultuous decade in Turkey, tirelessly documented by Emin ÖZMEN. His first book is a retrospective of his work to date, recounting the photographer’s homeland in a ceaseless state of turmoil, hit by dramatic events: a failed coup d’état, popular uprisings, natural disasters, political purges, and ongoing military operations. This vivid and fast-paced series of black-and- white photographs is punctuated with moments of calm in the form of meditative colour images and personal texts. Despite the omnipresent tension, a feeling of graciousness and warmth emerges from Özmen’s work, which unfolds to form a nuanced and necessary comment on the Turkish state and the sentiments of its people.
Content
"The photo volume 'Olay' is a documentation of Turkey, on the brink of violence and grace." (Emin ÖZMEN) It includes an extensive timeline introduced by Piotr Zalewski, Turkey correspondent for The Economist, as well as personal texts written by Emin ÖZMEN, and is co-edited with Cloé Kerhoas." (slightly adapted publishers text, © Mack book, 2023)