A#24 Erdem
A film by Amber Işbilen
Zeynep, Samandağ (2022)
Words by Albert Shyong
Growing up in Canada, the British-Turkish designer Erdem Moralioglu would often make the long journey to Turkey, spending summers in his father’s hometown of Antakya cultivating a bond to the ancestral land that continues to seep into his inspirations. Imbued with an indelible sense of heritage, Erdem draws upon his memories that linger and weaves them into the fabric of his creative expression. Featured within A Magazine Curated By Erdem, the photographic series Antakya by Turkish photographer Olgaç Bozalp pays homage to the roots of the A#24 curator and summons recollections of his childhood summers.
At the crossroads of the Levant and Anatolia lies Antakya, nestled in the Hatay province of southeastern Turkey. A cradle of civilisation, the region has been at the beating heart of culture since antiquity, from Ancient Greece and Rome to the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Prior to setting off for Antakya, Erdem provided Bozalp with a list of locations he frequented as a child, along with a silk opera coat from his Autumn Winter 2021 collection to photograph on local subjects. Bozalp’s series Antakya documents scenes of the languid late summer, of peppers drying on sun-kissed roofs and textures of the Old City harkening back to the days of Biblical Antioch. Erdem’s opera coat adorns Antakyans across generations, captured in balmy portraits as a memento reminiscing and reacquainting with the land.
In the above short film, behind-the-scenes footage captured by Turkish director Amber Işbilen depicts Olgaç Bozalp’s travels throughout the Hatay region, with little but a camera and a silk coat, and his reflections on photographing Antakya.
Today, it is heartbreaking to look back at this footage of the region so terribly affected by the earthquake in February 2023, and think of how the landscape and the city have changed forever.
Please consider donating to help people affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Old City, Antakya (2022)
Altınözü (2022)
Göksu’s friend, Great Antakya Park (2022)
Vakıflı Köyü (2022)
Ömer, Saint Pierre Chuch (2022)
Aziz Pavlus Ortodoks Kilisesi, Antakya (2022)
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