Video works Alphabets (Karamanlidika) and Alphabets (Armeno-Turkish) complement the artist’s installation On Reading and Writing (2007)
Alphabets (Karamanlidika) (2012)
29 minutes
Turkish; English subtitles
The artist interviews Stefo Benlisoy and Şehnaz Şişmanoğlu about the Turkish speaking Anatolian Orthodox communities of the 19th century Ottoman Empire, the books in Turkish written with the Greek alphabet, the writer and the journalist Evangelinos Misailidis (1820-1890), the making of the literary canon, and educational practices in the multicultural climate of the Empire.
Alphabets (Armeno-Turkish) (2012)
45 minutes
Turkish; English subtitles
The artist interviews Boghos Levon Zekiyan, Mehmet Fatih Uslu, Murat Cankara, Püzant Akbaş and Rober Koptaş about the history and the symbolic value of the Armenian alphabet, the books written in Turkish with the Armenian alphabet, the multilingual subject of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, and the building of a literary canon.
Director of photography: Ebru Karaca
Video edit: Dilek Aydın
Translation from Turkish into English: Liz Amado
Thanks to: Öğünç Hatipoğlu
Installation photos: Marili Zarkou