The Fashion (or Politics?) of Turkish Trench Coats and Headscarves

One of our young hosts for our village homestay
 near Beysehir, Turkey - 2012

I never thought that I would ever say this...but...I do enjoy photographing people! Particularly rewarding are the candid shots that are quickly captured, without much planning and without much fuss. I also find that upon returning from a trip, it's the people shots that I organize first. More so than the photographs of places and objects, it's the photographs of people that bring back memories of the moment in deeper detail, perhaps because of the indelible way in which they are grounded in time. A building or landscape at sunrise might look very much the same from one day to the next, whereas the expression on a person's face, taken at the same time every day, most likely will not.

Shopping Day
Istanbul, Turkey - 2012

The streets of Istanbul are full of history and teeming with people. It's impossible to resist the urge to photograph the women, often walking arm in arm, one in a headscarf and long skirt, the other bare-headed and wearing form fitting jeans. On one walk along the Bosphorus, where fishermen like to stake out their ground for the afternoon, we came across a bride and groom, and their photographer. A fisherman very politely gave up his spot so the wedding photographer could position the bride and groom against the backdrop of sea and sky before digitally memorializing their special day.

Wedding Photos on the Banks of the Bosphorus
Istanbul, Turkey - 2012

One of the interesting things about the scene was the contrast in dress between the wedding photographer and the bride. The young bride was in a traditional white wedding gown (traditional to people of European heritage...), while the young professional photographer was in traditional headscarf (traditional to Turkey...).

When we left Istanbul and headed towards central Turkey - to Cappadocia and Konya - we began to see more and more women in headscarves...and...trenchcoats! In my own light cotton traveling garb, the 90+ degree heat was oppressive, so I could only wonder how it was that they were managing so well.

Headscarves and Trenchcoats at the Mevlana Museum (Shrine of Rumi)
Konya, Turkey - 2012

Smartly dressed women paying their respects at the Mevlana Museum (Shrine of Rumi)
Konya, Turkey - 2012

It was obvious to me that the women took pride in their appearance. Scarves were chosen to compliment their trench coats. I could see that there was an art to the way in which their scarves were wrapped, with a specific number of pins, their patterns displayed just so.

The very hospitable family we stayed with in a village near Beysehir included the patriarch and matriarch, their two sons and their wives, and the two couples' children - one had a daughter and the other a son. I remember thinking that the young wives were modestly, but also quite confidently and stylishly, dressed in colorful headscarves and long skirts.

Young women hosts of our village homestay, with five year old Suleyman
 near Beysehir, Turkey - 2012

It was only much later  in our trip that I discovered what a political lightning rod this single item of clothing - a simple headscarf - actually was.  These are just three of the dramatically headlined articles that I found from BBC News: Turkey: Battle of the headscarf (22 July 2002), Headscarf issue challenges Turkey (7 November 2006), and Is Turkey's secular system in danger? (24 October 2012), that highlight the symbolic role that headscarves play in Turkey's political debate.

To put things in context, Turkey has been a secular state since the early 1920's, the legacy of the much loved leader, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk). Headscarves are banned for women who hold public positions or those who are engaged in working or studying on public premises. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, more women started wearing headscarves to school and universities. Those interviewed in the BBC articles saw it as a personal choice - a reflection of who they were - and being expelled from universities or banned from appearing in court because they refused to remove their headscarves was a form of discrimination.

The whole controversy would probably not have as much steam if the Turkish government was not currently led (for the past decade) by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Prime Minister Erdogan has already been accused of having an Islamist agenda, and because Turkey is so overwhelmingly Muslim, the fear is that  relaxing the ban on headscarves will just open the door to Islam in public life.

One of our other young hosts for our village homestay
 near Beysehir, Turkey - 2012

As a outsider, I don't feel it is my place to agree or disagree with either side in this debate. However, I can't help hoping that headscarves and trenchcoats may one day lose their political symbolism and gain more of a cultural one. That's the way I believe it is in the Indian subcontinent where saris are worn - by choice - throughout Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, by Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians alike.  And I can only hope that at some point, something as superficial as what a Turkish woman chooses to wear will be seen only as a personal choice....a choice that is made freely, with confidence and pride, and in the spirit of personal expression, rather than religious restriction.

On the Bosphorus
Istanbul, Turkey - 2012
photo by Roger Winter

Many of the images included in my posts are also available for purchase as 8x10 and 5x7 fine art prints and A2 size greeting cards (all printed on archival water color paper) at http://DigitalYak.etsy.com/. Be sure to send me a message if there is something you'd like that you don't see listed, or if you'd like a custom size or item, as I truly enjoy creating one of a kind items that hold special meaning. Thanks!!

Distressed Beauty

Beysehir, Turkey
2012

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius

We have all been touched by that which we consider to be beautiful. Many great thinkers have pondered the definition of beauty. We talk about "traditional" notions of beauty. And we acknowledge that there are distinct cultural notions of beauty. We can even accept that beauty is a concept that need not be bound by the experience of our five senses:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched

- they must be felt with the heart.

- Helen Keller

I recently returned from a three week tour of Turkey, a country of startlingly diverse physical terrain, made even more fascinating when considered through the lens of its complex geo-political history and singular position as the meeting ground of east and west. The result? A visually rich landscape and cultural heritage which translates into a photographer's dream destination.

So it's a bit ironic that the first photographs I have chosen to showcase this dream destination have to do with buildings in various states of decay....

Ayvalik, Turkey
2012

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't consider myself an expert on aesthetics by any means. But as an architect, I do spend a great deal of time analyzing my work. When it comes to photography, I think hard about what I am trying communicate with the images I've captured through my lens and carefully consider what might distinguish my images from the countless others that flood our physical and virtual worlds.

Over the years I've realized that beauty, defined as something visually pure and perfectly balanced, is overrated. It just doesn't have enough nuance to be emotionally satisfying. It is shallow and insipid, rather than rich and meaningful. And it almost never tells a story...

Ayvalik, Turkey
2012

Beauty? To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from

nor where it leads to.

- Pablo Picasso

While I can appreciate perfection (and even admit to being a perfectionist...), my view of beauty - which now permeates my work and outlook on life - is most closely aligned with the Japanese concept of "wabi-sabi". Wabi-sabi is uniquely Japanese, and stems from an interpretation of Zen Buddhism that has evolved over centuries. It encompasses an experiential component too, so it is as much about process as it is product.

In his book "Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers," Leonard Koren writes: “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.  It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.”

Ayvalik, Turkey
2012

And in the essay "What is Wabi-Sabi?" architect Todao Ando, writes:

"Pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered - and it reveres authenticity above all.... It celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. It reminds us that we are all but transient beings on this planet - that our bodies as well as the material world around us are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent."

Beysehir, Turkey
2012

We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.

- Kahlil Gibran

I admit that there was no grand discourse about wabi-sabi in my mind when I was photographing these structures. I was subconsciously drawn to the texture and weathering of the materials (revealed in layered relief) that spoke lyrically of the passage of time...and abandonment. I was intrigued. As I learned more about the history of Ayvalik and Beysehir, the two towns where these photographs were taken, their stories came into clearer focus.

Ayvalik, located on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey, has a rich architectural heritage and is known for its olive oil. The city enjoyed some autonomy within the Ottoman Empire (even though the city residents were predominately of Greek origin) and became an important cultural center in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1919, the city was controlled by the Greek Army, as Turkey was on the losing side of WWI. But in 1922, the forces of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) retook the city. The Greco-Turkish war had already led many of the city's residents to flee, and after the Turkish War of Independence an agreement called the "Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" resulted in the mandatory expulsions of Moslems living in Greece and Christian Greeks living in Turkey...

Ayvalik, Turkey
2012

In contrast, the city of Beysehir is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Beysehir, the largest freshwater lake in Turkey. The area is fertile and farming predominates in the villages surrounding the lake. The lovely Turkish family we stayed with in a village outside Beysehir told us that sadly, the lake today has very little fish. Where once there were hundreds of fishermen and thousands employed at fish processing plants around the village, now there are none. Overfishing has destroyed the thriving industry, forcing families to leave and seek work elsewhere. On the positive side, an important lesson has been learned and in a few years, the fish will slowly come back.

In every image there is a story just waiting to be uncovered...or written...

On the Bosphorus
Istanbul, Turkey - 2012
photo by Roger Winter

All of the images posted here are also available for purchase as 8x10 and 5x7 fine art prints and A2 size greeting cards (all printed on archival water color paper) at http://DigitalYak.etsy.com/. Be sure to send me a message if there is something you'd like that you don't see listed, or if you'd like a custom size or item, as I truly enjoy creating one of a kind items that hold special meaning. Thanks!!