Manchester 1975 - Kemal Cengizkan

Manchester 1975 - Kemal Cengizkan - Café Royal Books

"Studying Engineering in Manchester, in 1975–76, I tried to record the daily life of the city I was living in. When I returned to Turkey, I prepared a photo exhibition in Ankara, in March 1978, named "Human Images from England"."

Cengizkan first took up photography during the 1960s while in high school.  Using his father’s 6×9 cm Zeiss Ikon, he made portraits of relatives, recorded family gatherings, and occasionally traveled to the city centre to make street photographs of everyday life.

After entering university in 1969, he began documenting the rising social and political movements in Turkey. “I tried to take photos in some of these activities, but it was very impractical and expensive with the equipment that I had,” Cengizkan recalls. “However, I had few frames from those days, some published in the papers.”

“Walking was the best way of learning and recording the daily life of the city with all its richness; you can catch peaceful happiness of resting people in parks with their children or desirous glance in front of a jewellery shop,” says Cengizkan. “Most of the time I caught the frame without being noticed, therefore do not get any reaction from the people I photographed. However, in some cases you should speak with your subject first to establish a connection and then try to catch your frame.”

44 years later, Cengizkan returned to his archive with an ambition to publish the work. Now over 70, he looks back at this era of his life, revisiting the works he made as a young man. man. “If you want to understand the characteristics of the city,” says Cengizkan, “walk along the streets, visit different districts – seek out the areas where life is going on.”

• 36 pages
• printed in the UK
• staple bound
• 14cm x 20cm

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