Imagine Istanbul

This is the English translation of the interview I gave for the newspaper Yeni Hayat in their April 15, 2006 issue. The Turkish translation of the interview is located in a posting on my blog dated April 25.

Culture and Art section of Yeni Hayat:

“I saw fear and beauty in his eyes”

In the last edition of our newspaper we published one of the Tanya Robb’s poems which was translated into Turkish and Kurdish.

Tanya Robb is a Canadian who went to Turkey in 2003 as a tourist. As you know, every tourist is drawn to different things. Tanya was drawn to a young Kurdish boy who shined shoes for a living. She used the gestures of body language to communicate with him to solve the language difference between them. She was unaware of his identity, however, when she returned to Istanbul, she was able to find him after searching for three days. She found out that the little boy is a son of a Kurdish family in the city of Erzurum. Tanya is an amateur photographer. She posts her photographs and writings on her blog. She gave me a couple of pictures of her visit to Istanbul as a gift. I liked those photographs a lot because they reminded me of my youngest brother Erdogan when he around 7 to 8 years old shining shoes in Kestel of the city of Bursa.
So many Kurdish children and other children are forced to work at an early age for a living and this story is their story. This is why I liked her story very much.

Yeni Hayat: When was the first time you went to Turkey?

Tanya: In 2003.

Yeni Hayat: For what purpose did you go there?

Tanya- For tourism and to take photographs.

Yeni Hayat - Since when have you been taking photographs?

Tanya: 1984.

Yeni Hayat: Are you doing this as a hobby?

Tanya: Yes, this is a hobby for me.

Yeni Hayat: When did you take the pictures of the Kurdish boy?

Tanya: In 2003. After the whole day taking the pictures of Istanbul I saw that little boy shining shoes. I watched him doing his job for a while. He looked like 9 or 10 years old. He was doing his job like a grownup person. I approached him but he was afraid. I asked him for how much money was for shining shoes. He told me it was 20 million lira. I took three pictures of Yilmaz. These photographs have been the best pictures that I have ever taken so far. There was great beauty and fear together in his eyes.

Yeni Hayat: Did you know anything about his identity?

Tanya: I didn’t.

Yeni Hayat: When did you learn about his identity?

Tanya: This little boy inspired me to create so many beautiful things that I wanted to give him his photographs. Therefore, six months later I went to Turkey again. My intention was to find him and give him these pictures (maybe he didn’t have any pictures of himself). I had the goal to find him even though I didn’t know his name, language, and address. I didn’t know what it was but I felt like there was a connection.

Yeni Hayat: Was this connection the link between fear and suffering?

Tanya: I saw fear and beauty in his eyes but he was afraid of me.

Yeni Hayat: Why?

Tanya: I didn’t know why. I am not a scary person

Yeni Hayat: When did you learn of his identity?

Tanya: I went to a café near the New Mosque to find the little boy. Then I learned that the waiters in the Café were Kurdish and they knew the little boy. A clothing store owner knew the little boy and his father. Thus, I became aware of his identity.

Yeni Hayat: What happened next?

Tanya: First, I wrote a poem. Afterwards, I put together the poem and the scenes (pictures). I was in search of something. This was kind of a search for an identity for me. I had discovered a people that I had never known to exist before. This search was an inspiration to me to create a new artistic project. I connected to this little boy so much. He is probably about 14 by now.

Yeni Hayat: You put these photographs on a webpage, what’s your next project?

Tanya: I would like to get the photographs and poem published as a book. I have translated my poem into four languages: English, French, Turkish, and Kurdish.

Yeni Hayat: How did you meet with the Kurdish film maker Bahman Ghobadi?

Tanya: I met him at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006. Before I met him I had seen his movie “Turtles Can Fly”. The film is about young children in a refugee camp on the border of Turkey-Iraq. I felt connected to him because Ghobadi was close to the suffering of children. I posted an article about him on my site.

Yeni Hayat: I wish you successes in your life.

Tanya: Thank you very much for giving me this interview.

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