ANNOUNCING 2013 NEWSPRINT AWARD FINALIST, “AWAY FROM HOME” BY KURSAT BAYHAN
Thank you so much for waiting!
We spent the last month looking through every submission and are impressed with the quality and scope of the work.
There were hard decisions to make. This award is intended to stimulate self-publishing and self-distribution of your work, we are sure that many of these projects will find their way to the printing page.
We are pleased to announce that one of 2013 Newsprint Award finalists is “Away from Home” by Kursat Bayhan.
His work will be projected at the OBSCURA international photo festival from June 21st in Penang, Malaysia.
Congratulation to Kursat!
©Kursat Bayhan / Finalist 2013 newsprint award
©Kursat Bayhan / Finalist 2013 newsprint award
About “Away from Home”
Migration as a periodic occasion particular prevalent in early 80’s and during the 90’s is among the fundamentals of the rapid change in Turkey. Migration from rural to urban and east to west, continues to have its effects on the relocating societies, the regions targeted by immigration along with the social structure. The young workforce expelled from the production cycle due to the industrialization of Turkish agriculture as well as intraregional economic disparity, began to immigrate to the cities to seek for new prospects of income. To survive and to support their families is the sole purpose of thousands of migrants who leave behind their homes for large, industrialized cities such as Istanbul and Ankara. The rate of migration for Istanbul has more than doubled during the 2009-2010 period due to the city’s economic opportunities and income disparities between the country’s west and east, according to official statistics.
In addition to the inequality in industrialization, the forced national migration during the 1990’s was also among the causes of the change in the social structure in major cities such as Istanbul. 2.5 million people from nearly 4.000 villages in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia have migrated to the urban centers in the West. The situation led to economic, cultural and infrastructural problems in large cities.
The project “”Away from Home”” which I gave start nearly 5 years ago, covers the inhabitants of Eminonu, Kucukpazar as one of the areas in Istanbul largely populated by migrants.
Thousands of young migrants chasing their hopes and dreams are fighting for their living under challenging conditions. This group of people which we could name as the 4th generation after the migration in the 1960’s , 1980’s and 90’s works in day jobs due to the lack of a professional education. They dwell in single room houses with limited supply of electrics and water. Individual rooms of apartment suites are rented on monthly basis. One room is occupied by 10 people at minimum. Oftentimes, rooms in houses that lack a kitchen and bathroom are used for cooking and shower.
Migrants usually occupied with peddling, junk and scrap dealing make approx. 200 US$ in a month. After spending 50 US$ for rental, migrants send the balance of their income to their families in their hometown.
Only a few are able to achieve their goals of a better life and manage to take their families to Istanbul.
About Kursat Bayhan
In 2003 l graduated from Marmara University Department of Radio-Television. Then l have MSc. degree about Photo-journalism and Ethics in the same university, in Social Sciences Academy. l started to work as a professional in Zaman daily newspaper. My projects are shifted from an editorail aspect to social subjects and stories. Besides the editorial rutine, l worked in the last 5 years about the project “Away From Home” concerning about internal immigration. In this project l tried to tell the stories of the people immigrated from eastern and southeastern Anatolia to İstanbul for a better life. This project, which extends the range of traditional documentary photography, tells the story of the individual coming from an immigrated family and my personal experiences. Also this project has been awarded as the best dummy book in Bursa Photo-Fest. My another parallel project “Tigris” is about the the Tigris river which is born in Turkey and passes thru Syria and Iraq and come off in Persian Gulf. In this project l will follow the route of the river with an artistic point of view more than the the history, society and contemporary issues in a documentary aspect.
The Newsprint Award 2013 in partnership with OBSCURA Festival!
The finalists’ and winner’s work of the Newsprint Award 2013 will be showcased at the final night party of OBSCURA Festival, on the 30th of June 2013.