An exhibition in Diyarbakır, old friends, and new stories

Some cities are like a loyal friend who welcomes you with endless warmth and affection. No matter how long you have been away, they embrace you. They unconditionally welcome you back and warm your heart. Through their skies, colors, scents, and sounds, your weary spirit comes alive again. They lift away the heavy longing accumulated over the years and make you feel as though you have come home once more.

Diyarbakır, the hometown of most of my elders, is such a city for me. Of course, it has changed greatly and continues to change; the city is acquiring an entirely new face. I do not know whether that is good or bad. At the very least, the Sur district, apart from its crowded and noisy main shopping street, has become almost unrecognizable. The back streets bear little resemblance to what I remember from my first visit in 2007. But what truly defines a city is its people. And once again, Diyarbakır embraced me thanks to them.

Since the Covid pandemic, I had only been there once. Even that visit hardly counts, as I was there to guide my nieces and nephews from France who were curious to see the city whose name they had often heard from older family members. Last weekend, however, I was there again. I attended the first group exhibition of the 4Ro Photos collective. The exhibition is called “Stories of Mesopotamia.” I have been part of this collective, which has existed for nearly three years.

4Ro Photos was initially established as a platform to give voice to photographers from southeastern Turkey who work around common themes such as roots, identity, memory, and the human condition. In short, it is a collective of people who share the same curiosity about humanity. Most of the photographers were born and raised in the region; there are two exceptions: Matthieu Chazal and myself. I am part of the group because of my roots. Matthieu, who was French, had been invited because of the extensive and dedicated work he carried out in the region over the last twenty years; he had become one of us.

I say “had become” because, sadly, he passed away in 2024 at the age of only 49. His work is also featured in this first exhibition of 4Ro Photos. He will remain a member of this collective forever. At the very least, his resilience and humanistic approach will continue to live on as a spirit that inspires us.

We had wanted to bring this exhibition to life for a long time. In fact, we had been waiting for the right moment for years. But we photographers are quiet people, as I mentioned when I was asked to give a short speech at the opening. We do our work patiently and without much noise. We believe in revealing what we pursue only when the time is right. And now, after three years, that time had come.

The Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality also believed that the time had come. By demonstrating its trust in the collective, it provided support for the entire exhibition. Thanks to this support, we were able to realize the exhibition, and we are grateful for it. They provided a beautiful, spacious hall at the Çand Amed Congress Center where each of us could display a selection of our work. Zeynep Yaş, Head of the Department of Culture and Arts of the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and the person behind this support, also announced that the exhibition would later be moved to the Diyarbakır Intercity Bus Terminal.

This is exactly what I mean by a warm welcome; it feels as though you have come home. I will not even begin to talk about my reunion with those wonderful people whom I had not seen in a long time. They deserve an article of their own.