PAUSE;URBAN DECAY

This project was started from 2009, 2014, 2020 and 2022. During those years I was only having a maximum 2-hour-time to portray the empty city every Holy Day of Eid Fitr, right from 6.00 to 8.00 am when all Muslims went praying. The subject of my project arose from a long process of incubation. This could also be seen as my response as a critical citizen. It required only a short break to see how complex the problems of a city were. Then all the appalling realities suddenly came alive. I eventually realized that the city I live in has experienced environmental degradation. As for that, I decided to point out PAUSE; URBAN DECAY as the title to my project to represent the city that degraded environmentally.

My project specifically highlighted urban and daily issues. Its banality made them seen as something not worth worrying about. This kind of slightly ignorant perspective was a result of modernity hegemony. It demanded us to seize future-oriented life and forget the humane fundamental things. This documentary might be seen as a reaction to experience projecting criticism and reflection, to associate meaning with the life of urban society here and today.