Johns Hopkins University students Christie YoungSmith and Gracie Golden helped curate the exhibition In Focus: Ara Güler’s Anatolia.
In 1958, Hayat magazine sent Turkish photojournalist Ara Güler to document the opening of the Kemer Dam in Aydin, Turkey. On the way back, his taxi driver got lost, resulting in the discovery of the ancient city of Aphrodisias, a cult center devoted to the goddess Aphrodite.
Because they could not find their way, Güler and his driver decided to spend the night in Geyre, a remote mountain village. While inquiring in the local coffeehouse about a place to stay, Güler noticed men playing card games on top of an ancient Roman column capital. Realizing that the town was built atop ruins, Güler awoke early the next morning and was led by children around the site, photographing the temple of Aphrodite, a hippodrome, and many sarcophagi. When he returned to Istanbul, he sent the images to the Architectural Review, and soon received a telegram from Horizon magazine requesting color photos and an article to go alongside the photo essay. Güler suggested Professor Kenan T. Erim as the author for this article. The New York University professor accepted the job and went on to devote his life to excavating Aphrodisias.
When Erim began his excavations, archaeologists requested that the town of Geyre move two kilometers away. Güler has commented that the Aphrodisias he first visited was one of life: the people of Geyre put the relics to practical use in their daily lives. Now that the town has moved and Aphrodisias serves as a tourist attraction and excavation site, this “Aphrodisias of life” is gone. Güler says the site is now just history.
When he captured the vanishing town of Geyre, Güler accomplished one of his main photographic goals: to document change. Speaking about his images, Güler has said, “I have attempted to collect images of a vanished or vanishing way of life.”
Learn more about Aphrodisias and Güler’s effort to capture change in the exhibition In Focus: Ara Güler’s Anatolia, on view at the Sackler through May 4, 2014.
Next up in this blog series, we’ll take a look at Ara Güler’s work in the Freer|Sackler Archives. Follow the conversation using hashtag #AraGuler.
