WASHINGTON
By Michael Hernandez
Capturing an Anatolia of kingdoms and castles, the works of Ara Guler, Turkey’s “Eye of Istanbul”, have been put on display in Washington.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to introduce the work of Turkey’s most famous photographer to a US audience,” said Nancy Micklewright, the head of scholarly programs and publications at the Freer and Sackler Galleries.
The 21 photos on display in the exhibit at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington were chosen by a group of students from Johns Hopkins University under the supervision of Micklewright. They predominantly depict architectural monuments from Anatolia, including palaces, mosques and churches.
For her, the “Ara Guler’s Anatolia” exhibit presents an opportunity to display Turkey’s multicultural past and present.
“One of the things that really comes through in these photographs, if you study the whole body of them, not just the 21 that are in here, is the way that all of the different builders in the centuries that was the medieval world of Anatolia were influenced by each other,” she said.
The photos on display were chosen from the Sackler's 53 photo collection.
She added, ““It’s not just the Seljuks or a particular Armenian kingdom, because those builders and stone masons were traveling back and forth, and so these buildings really show the way, in that time, as today, Turkey is a multicultural place with many different ethnic traditions at play.”
Co-sponsored by Turkish Airlines and Johns Hopkins, the exhibit has already been met with popular acclaim following its debut weekend, according to Micklewright.
“We’re looking forward to doing more work around Turkish culture,” she added.
The exhibit will run through May 4, 2014.
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