In Conversation with Evin Erdoğdu
Evin Erdoğdu is an international writer. Recently she has contributed to The Christian Science Monitor and the Harvard Journal for Middle Eastern Politics and Policy.
Evin Erdoğdu doesn’t have an account on Instagram nor is she a photographer. She says curiosity drove her to curate the @everydayeverywhere Instagram account earlier this month.
Photo by @wissamgaza for @everydaygaza. “Palestinean youngsters sit in their destroyed family house, damaged during the Israeli-Hamas conflict of 2014, in the eastern Al Shejaetiya neighborhood of Gaza, October 13, 2016. According to UN reports, there were 2,251 Palestineans and 73 Israelis killed between June and August 2014. More than 4,700 families remain homeless after the 2014 conflict.”
“I don’t think an artist is the only person who knows what art is or how to make it,” Evin says. “It’s the same for photography and photo editing. If you care about something, and you are channeling your energy into your work, it will be good.”
But she’s not a total stranger to photography.
“I’m a dual US-Turkish citizen who grew up in Saudi Arabia, and I remember in middle school there taking a photography class,” Evin says. “I learned how to develop negatives in a dark room; all the old-school techniques, even make my own shoebox camera. It was fascinating. Beyond that, I’ve only ever taken up photography as a hobby.”
She wasn’t nervous about selecting photos, but she said speaking in technical terms about hashtags and filters did have a learning curve.
Photo by @ebatuhanakgul for @everyday.armenia. “Sona’s grandfather is from Van, Turkey. She lives in Dilijan, but says it is expensive.”
When selecting photos, Evin says she looked for images that she believed could create awareness. She selected a picture of two young men sitting on worn but throne-like living room chairs in the shell of a destroyed home. The photo was taken in Gaza, though when it first caught her eye she didn’t know where it was.
“It could have been Afghanistan, Syria, many places,” she says.
Evin says regardless of political beliefs, this photo was a reminder for her of a conflict that has lasted decades, and she questions why displacement has only recently come to the forefront of most minds. “This photo taps into the human element,” Evin says. “In conflict we still honor home and family, and this is the message I wanted to resonate with the people who saw it.”
She reflects on the situation and how this is their everyday. If the young men saw this picture of themselves, she wonders if they would see themselves differently. Would they see this as normal? The image was the most liked of her curation.
Another image she selected captures a woman in Armenia entering a house, looking back at the photographer. She narrates her reaction to the picture for me.
“The woman…maybe she was sitting and drinking tea and then got up to go to the kitchen and turned back to look at the photographer while he was taking a photo,” Evin says. “I wonder, was that the moment the photographer wanted? Was the woman shy? It actually made me think more about the photographer than the subject.”
One of the aspects Evin most liked about curating was the depth and breadth of images she saw.
“As journalists and media consumers we are used to having a certain feeling and energy and opinion from the media,” Evin says. “Then you have this platform where anyone can put up anything they see and feel that day. It’s definitely a more independent view of how people are existing.”
Evin says so many of the photographers strived to be prolific or poetic, and she would have appreciated more humor and irony amongst the thousands of images. She also decided that filters are overrated.
“It was interesting, as most new experiences are — but I wouldn’t open up my own account,” Evin says. “I don’t think I’m as productive or creative when I’m shooting energy towards a social media platform.”
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for Evin was a confirmation in her belief in the power of art to transform society and connect people, something she says she has always tried to integrate into her own professional work.
@EverydayEverywhere invites guest curators to select their favorite images on Instagram hashtagged #EverydayEverywhere. If you’re interested in curating, please get in touch: everydayeverywhereproject@gmail.com