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Kumpanya: by Kartonkitap

The document discusses a collection of 27 photographs from 1929 that were discovered on an online auction site. [1] The photographs are believed to have been taken in Konya, Turkey with a common "street box camera" and show a playful troupe of young boys. [2] While influenced by American Westerns of the 1920s, the photographs also reflect theatrical aesthetics of the time. [3] The book published on the collection, titled "Kumpanya," aims to revive the lost photographs and their spirit of unity and camaraderie within provincial Turkey in the 1920s.

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39 views2 pages

Kumpanya: by Kartonkitap

The document discusses a collection of 27 photographs from 1929 that were discovered on an online auction site. [1] The photographs are believed to have been taken in Konya, Turkey with a common "street box camera" and show a playful troupe of young boys. [2] While influenced by American Westerns of the 1920s, the photographs also reflect theatrical aesthetics of the time. [3] The book published on the collection, titled "Kumpanya," aims to revive the lost photographs and their spirit of unity and camaraderie within provincial Turkey in the 1920s.

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Average-TR
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Kumpanya by KartonKitap

Story of Kumpanya goes back to 2014 when we, KartonKitap, rst discovered a collection
of photographs in a -now defunct- Turkish online auction website called GittiGidiyor.
The lot, which was sold by a seller called "fotokart" on GittiGidiyor, consisted of 27
photographs and 2 movie artist cards.1

We believe that the photographs date from 1929, as this date frequently annotated on
prints and based on the assessment of Prof. Dr. Yusuf Murat Şen, head of the
Photography Department at Mimar Sinan University, we can say that the photographs
were taken with a “street box camera”, which was once a quite common practice on the
streets of Turkey and was known as “Alaminut”.

During our correspondence with the owner, Süreyya Erişkin, of the online shop, he
stated that he found the photographs in Feriköy Flea Market (Istanbul) in a small album
of their own. Erişkin added that he had no other information about the photographs
other than the year they were taken.

When we purchased the collection, we quickly realised that on one -and only one-
photograph there is an Arabic scripture; which is not uncommon for the photographs or
documents of that era since the young Republic of Turkey made the transition from
Arabic alphabet to Latin in November 1928.
We have consulted two sources who are experienced and able to read in Ottoman
Turkish -which is Turkish language written in Arabic alphabet- con rmed that the text
says: “In Konya" - a major city in central Turkey. Based on the available data, it would not
be too far o that these photographs were taken in Konya in 1929. Of course, even
though these photographs and notes constitute written and visual evidence, we, as
KartonKitap, nd it more accurate to state this as an “assumption”.

1Three of these photographs are inferior copies of better developed images, so it would be more
accurate to say that there are 24 pieces of photographs.
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The content of the photographs are quite dynamic and playful; however, it would be
appropriate to say that the in uence of American Westerns of the 1920’s is dominant. It
should also be mentioned that it is not only the movies, but also the movie poster
aesthetics and theatre played a role in the creation of these mise-en-scenes as well. Up
until the release of the 1929 Western, In Old Arizona, all major Westerns have been
produced and screened with no sound and we believe this further enhances the
theatrical atmosphere in the photographs.

We believe it would be more tting to call these photographs as lost instead of found as
they peculiarly shared the same fate with Western movies shot in the 1920’s, many of
which are still lost. These photographs, which we see them like a lost " lm reel", have
found themselves revived in a work that is infused with cinematic aesthetics, but within
the tactility of a book form.

Although the theatrical reference in the name of the book is clear, the book derives its
title from the seller’s description of the item when we bought the lot, which can be
roughly translated as “Interesting photographs of the young boys in a troupe
(Kumpanya) they formed among themselves in a village.”

Looking at these photographs and thinking about the provincial Turkey in the 1920s and
the recent turn of events it has just went through, unity and camaraderie, which are at
the very essence of the word companionship, formed an underlying text for this book.
Ultimately, Kumpanya, as a book, is the result of our unity and camaraderie with the
desire to make a movie of the children seen in the photographs.

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