Where East meets West
The city of Istanbul remains one of the inspirations behind Vacation Reads. This ancient yet modern city is truly eye opening, marrying modern Western with traditional Eastern cultures in a mega metropoliis spanning Asia and Europe. Ancient mosques, colorful sunrises and warm scents drift across the Bosphorus while millions of residents and visitors navigate the markets and waterways.
We worked with the charming Fil Books in the Galata neighborhood of Istanbul to gather their best recommendations to accompany the experience of the city. With a focus on media and photos, these recommendations bring to life the world of modern creative expression in the city, with an ode to the unmistakable history at every turn.
For Bird’s Sake by Cemre Yeşil Gönenli & Maria Sturm
“This is not a story about Istanbul; it is a story from the female vantage point about how a group of men devote their lives to raising goldfinches and greenfinches: a mysterious bond full of contradictions, love, possession and pleasure; the contradictions between the masculine and feminine; the female caress alongside the power of men; caregivers who compete for the bird that sings the best… And two women who learn how to listen and speak.”
Gülistan by Lukas Birk and Natasha Christia
“GÜLISTAN brings us the story of Kenan & Filiz, two residents of Istanbul celebrating their lives through the cities finest establishments in the 1960s and 70s. These establishments offered foto servisi and presented the images to their cliental in fashionable envelopes. GÜLISTAN offers a subtle resistance to the currently conservative forces in Turkey, illustrating a time of Westwards thinking in the capital. As well as a unique insight into the bustling world of yesterdays Istanbul and a very peculiar photographic culture very much part of every families archive.”
Utanma Benden by Sinan Tuncay
A photographers’ experiment into taking spaces traditionally reserved for heterosexual men and opening up the image to gay men being the focus. Referred to as “Collaging an Alternate Reality for Gay Life in Turkey”, the use of slang and juxtoposition make this book of works a window into gay life and style in Turkey, and a one of a kind art piece.
Orange by Orhan Pamuk
“When the Nobel-Prize-winning novelist is finished with a day’s writing, he takes his camera and wanders through Istanbul’s various neighborhoods. He often explores the backstreets of his hometown, areas without tourists, spaces that seem neglected and forgotten, washed in a particular light. This is the orange light of the windows and streetlamps that Pamuk knows so well from his childhood in Istanbul 50 years ago, as he tells in his introduction. Yet Pamuk also observes how the homely, cozy orange light is slowly being replaced by a new, bright and icy-white light from the more modernized light bulbs. His continuous walks in the backstreets is about recording and preserving the comforting effect of the old, disappearing orange light, as well as recognizing this new white vision.”
Mihriban by Linda Herzog
“Mihriban, a Turkish girl's name, means - good friend, with a good heart and a laughing face - it's also the title of a well-known love song in Turkey. And this book is Swiss photographer Linda Herzog's love song to the country she lived in from 2004-2007. The 50 color photographs chosen from her Turkish journeys prove her to be an acute observer whose vision is unclouded by romantic notions and touristic illusions; she depicts the juxtapositions of a modern nation with a deep, soulful past. Includes a fine interview with Martin Jaeggi.”