Fotohane Darkroom
Country: Turkey
Participants: Local and refugee children, Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi and Kurdish
Website
‘I wanted to have a photo of my close friend while playing’.
© Gülşin, 8 / Fotohane Darkroom
Fotohane Darkroom is a mobile photography project that works with children in Mardin province in southeastern Turkey. The area, a few kilometres away from the Syrian border, is a melting pot of people fleeing from conflicts in Syria and Iraq, as well as of people who come from across the region. Since 2011 and the outbreak of war in Syria, more than 90,000 Syrians have registered in Mardin, making up 10% of the population.
Initiated by the Syrian photographer Serbest Salih, who himself came to Mardin as a refugee, and Amar Kılıç, Fotohane Darkroom equips local and refugee children with inexpensive pinhole and simple analogue cameras and teaches them the basics of composition, how to develop and print their own photographs in the darkroom, and how to organise exhibitions.
When they started their photography workshops, they discovered that transportation was the biggest obstacle to children participating and concluded that they needed to make the project mobile. First, Salih converted a shipping container into a darkroom, and this was moved every few months to a different location. Then, in 2019, Salih transformed a caravan into a darkroom, which now travels from village to village along the Turkish-Syrian border, providing workshops for children aged between 7 and 17 years. The project, which has gained support from agencies such as UNHCR, brings together children from different backgrounds who have little or no access to cultural opportunities. The aim is to help Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish refugee children integrate with Turkish children and to create a space for those that have endured war and traumatic experiences and often have had to grow up too quickly, helping them heal and prolong their childhood.
“While taking pictures, I tried to capture human beings through the eyes of other living things.”
© Abdullah, 13/ Sirkhane / Fotohane Darkroom
Participant from Fotohane darkroom holding a handmade print
© Fotohane Darkroom
Fotohane mobile darkroom caravan is leaving after completing a workshop programme with children.
© Fotohane Darkroom
The program runs over eight weeks and is customised to individual children’s circumstances with the support of the children’s parents or guardians. Over this time the children are encouraged to play and experiment, to take photos of their surroundings, of their families and friends, and to develop new ways of thinking through learning about photography and child rights. Salih encourages them creatively, saying there is no such thing as a bad photo—they just need to feel it. Seeing their pictures first appear in the darkroom is like magic for the children. The children do their own editing for their Instagram feed and also chose the edits for their 2021 book, ‘I Saw the Air Fly’. Their work has been exhibited in the UK and Turkey.
‘My friend’
© İshak 8 / Sirkhane / Fotohane Darkroom
‘The children create stories, play out scenes, and really explore their imaginations within
the space of the frame. I see how photography opens up a world of spontaneity, fun and magic.’