This is an unpublished project premiered today on C41 Magazine.

Ci̇ Demi̇ (1986) lives and works in İstanbul.

He studied electronics and Italian literature, but never actually graduated from either of them. He ‘discovered’ photography later in his life, in 2015; documented house concerts of İstanbul for Sofar Sounds and did photo/videojournalism for 140journos SO up until 2018.

As an Istanbulite, he has adopted İstanbul as the backdrop of his stories. He is constantly looking for the peculiar and the absurd in İstanbul, creating a visual vocabulary of his city through both fiction and non-fiction stories. He considers himself to be ‘obsessed’ by the idea of a doomsday scenario taking place in his city.

His works have been exhibited at ‘A Pillar of Smoke’, Les Rencontres d’Arles / Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival, Xiamen / Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris (2018); ‘Non-manifesto’, Fotoistanbul (2017) and ‘Postcards from Tarlabaşı’, Pasaj, İstanbul (2017).

His works have been published in publications like L’Œil de la Photographie (2017), GUP Magazine (2017), Fabrika Zine (2018), VSCO (2019), Istanbul Art News (2019) and in a photo book titled ‘Lila/c’ (collaboration with 140journos SO, 2017).

As a self-taught photographer, he is inspired by horror stories and many paintings from various eras. Vibrant but eerie colours derived from ’70s giallos can be considered one of his work’s visual characteristics. He works as a copywriter by day.

He is an affiliate of PLATFORM by GAPO.

About Eminönü Blues – words by Ci̇ Demi̇:

Where are you from?
I’m from İstanbul.
No one is from İstanbul.
Well, I am.

A dialogue that has been repeated by the author of these photographs since forever. Where is İstanbul?

When you Google it, a peculiar thing happens: you are taken to Eminönü. Is it really the centre of a city that has seemingly infinite amount of people and untamed space? Who knows. The author follows this information, turns his lens to the fabric of “İstanbul”, attempting to understand what makes it the way it is. A series of harmonious disasters. He works with the mundane to create something worth remembering; reducing the frame to reach the essence.

And he does remember: he spent his early childhood in this place, because his father worked in Çemberlitaş. Enchanted memories of the past are now the sour reality of the city.

Eminönü Blues: a failed nostalgia.