Koray Aykanat

    

Gaziemir

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Currently in Gaziemir, there is no resemblance to Seydiköy which underpins the foundations of it. Military troop barracks, the airport, Aegean Free Trade Zone and İzmir Fair have all occupied this area and changed the face of this neighborhood. The fields and olive groves that once surrounded the village are now replaced with housing estates and gated communities. The remaining village houses are counting down days to reap the benefits of being replaced by apartment buildings. Strange are the faces that once knew one another on the street. 

 

Five years ago, I moved to Gaziemir on a whim with the motivation to shorten the distance I traveled between home and work. Despite the time past, Gaziemir is still only a place to reside for me. The sense of not-belonging persists everywhere I go, except for the neighborhood I grew up in and had to leave. So, I continue to spend my days here as if I am going to leave in a bit.  

 

I went on an inner journey and on a trip around my neighborhood during the project. I questioned my sense of not-belonging to places and my distance to people who occupy these spaces. This questioning reflected itself in the photos I produced. The parks in between buildings or lonely people who are seen as a tiny figure in grand open spaces along the peripheries of the neighborhood, the flock of sheep that wander around on their own, the effaced/covered or rusted signs that read ‘luxury housing’, old houses and new buildings that have stacked upon another turned into symbols of the connection I could not build with my neighborhood.