Ara’s Camera on Yaşar Kemal

Yaşar Kemal described Ara Güler’s photographs as ‘a great Anatolian legend’; Güler also happened to be Kemal’s first friend when the latter arrived in Istanbul.

Ara Güler captured the writer on film countless times in many cities like Istanbul, Tekirdağ, Adana and Paris, from that moment onwards. These priceless photographs now come together in an exhibition.

The “Ara’s Camera on Yaşar Kemal” exhibition held between 11 and 31 March at the Fulya Arts Centre also documents the friendship between these old hands.

Organised by Yapı Kredi Culture, Arts and Publishing and supported by the Beşiktaş Council, the “Ara’s Camera on Yaşar Kemal” exhibition comprises 43 photographs specially selected from an archive of 125 -included in the exhibition catalogue- documenting Kemal’s life from the time of his arrival in Istanbul through to his death. Photos of the writer, mostly in black-and-white, portraying him in cities like Tekirdağ, Adana and Paris hang alongside those capturing him in various spots around Istanbul: at home, in neighbourhood coffee houses and local markets by the Golden Horn, Basınköy (where he lived at the time) and Vaniköy, his last home.