Interrupted Flow of Life
April 2026 – March 2027
BATMAN, BİNGÖL, DİYARBAKIR, HAKKARİ, SİİRT, ŞIRNAK
Interrupted Flow of Life is a long-term documentary photography project that aims to make visible, through documentary photography, the transformations caused by dams and hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) constructed across Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, and their impact on nature, people, and collective memory.
Carried out over approximately six years, the project documents the lives of communities living in areas affected by hydroelectric projects around the Ilısu Dam, the Botan Valley, Bingöl, Silvan, and along the Iraqi border. The project focuses not only on environmental destruction, but also on displacement, the loss of cultural memory, the transformation of rural life, and the rupture of relationships between people and the natural environment.
Using documentary photography as a means of witnessing and producing visual memory, the project seeks to document the less visible dimensions of the ecological crisis while making the voices of rural communities excluded from decision-making processes more visible. Throughout the project, an approach grounded in gender equality, ethical representation, and inclusive documentation will be adopted, with particular attention to ensuring that women’s relationships with nature and their lived experiences form an integral part of the narrative.
The project will involve extensive photographic production in hard-to-reach villages and hamlets and will be completed over a twelve-month period. The resulting works will be presented to audiences through exhibitions, digital platforms, media publications, and public events, contributing to greater public awareness in the fields of the environment, culture, and human rights.
Interrupted Flow of Life is not merely a documentary photography project, but also a visual archival endeavour that seeks to transmit the shared memory of nature, people, and disappearing habitats to future generations. By placing the role of art in strengthening freedom of expression, cultural dialogue, and democratic participation at its centre, the project aims to make visible the social consequences of ecological destruction and contribute to a reconsideration of the fragile relationship between humans and nature.
