Seen: Turkey
Who: 阿部真士 Shinji Abe (3rd District shows )
Where: Third District Gallery, Shinjuku
When: Nov. 3 - 11, 2015 / 1:00 - 8pm daily
In his comments regarding this exhibition, Abe writes
今年の8月にトルコへ友人の荷物持ちとして同行した際に撮影した写真です。
トルコには全く興味が無く、トルコといえばサッカーがちょっと強いという事とテレビから流れてくるテロと難民のイメージでした。爆発と血と泣き叫ぶ人達。そのイメージを払拭するために歩き回り撮影していたようにも思います。 初めての海外でちょっとした発狂状態だったということも大いにあるのですが。今回はバスツアーで通過しただけの気になる街がいくつかあり、何らかの形で金が入ればまた訪れたいと思います。
Last August I was asked by a friend to come along on a trip to Turkey- to help with luggage- and used the opportunity to take some photos.
I had absolute zero interest in Turkey. All I knew about the country was from TV: their soccer team was kinda good- and that there’s terrorism. The TV showed that Turkey is explosions and blood and crying, screaming people. all the time. To cast aside this image I decided to walk around with my camera myself. That said the country was in a mad state and it was my first time abroad.
On the bus tour we passed through some towns that interested me. I think I’d like to go back sometime if the chance arises sometime.
Abe told me he shot about 70 rolls of Tri-X through his Canon SLRs over his eight days in the country. When I visited he was his usual calm, low-key self. He enjoyed shooting in Turkey. It’s different than his home turf of Shinjuku’s nightlife- indeed these new pictures have a bit more reservation on his part- but reflect his ability to work close and find people and situations that interest him no matter where he happens to be.