All Photos © George Georgiou. Above: Seafront, Mersin, Turkey, 2007.
In his travels throughout Turkey in recent years, photographer George Georgiou has documented “the process of modernization, urbanization, and national identity that is happening in Turkey against a rising tide of nationalism and religion.” His compositions capture a country at a crossroads, caught between old and new, Europe and Asia, tradition and modernization. His series “Fault Lines” is currently being shown as part of the exhibition “New Photography 2011” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Also featured in the exhibition are Moyra Davey, Deana Lawson, Doug Rickard, Viviane Sassen and Zhang Dali.

Above: Tokiland. Turkey is undergoing a huge modernization project to house the mass migration from the village to the city that is taking place throughout the whole country.  TOKI, the state owned housing development agency, has led this push. Almost always, the architecture and infrastructure are from the same blueprint. Cities are beginning to become carbon copies of each other.  Some worry that the sense of community which is so strong in Turkish culture will break down, bringing with it a number of social problems that are all too familiar in similar developments in Europe.

“New Photography” is on view at MoMA through January 16, 2012.

Hakkari.

Yenikoy.