Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names Book

I happened upon one of Alex Webb's books none other than the work Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names with an essay by Orhan Pamuk, a recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. I skimmed a few paragraphs and thought yeah, this is interesting I'll get this for my collection. Once I opened up said book in the confines of my apartment, sunlight peering in through the partially opened blinds and throwing up some sort of hazy atmospheric warmth within the space I was occupying. I settled down with a damn good mug of coffee and set about immersing myself within the context of Alex Webb and his tale of his adventures in Istanbul: The City of a Hundred Names.

The Influence of Alex Webb

Istanbul a major city in Turkey that straddles both the Asian and European continents across the Bosphorus Strait, an old city which has embraced many empires and cultures throughout its turbulent but diverse and culturally influential history. Perhaps this is what attracted Alex Webb to Istanbul, although he does speak of his influence in his work being that of borders and this is what is significant in his work, he is not just a colourist but, someone who utilises the same thematic throughout his work and, that being a country and its borders.

Borders have long been of interest to a documentary photographer, the fractious nature of the subject a naturally occurring construct of division and of indifference towards your neighbouring country, or 'other'. Ideally, a border is a point were subtle nuances of culture and sub-culture emerge and coexist in some pseudo-Utopian manner. Here then, is the very narrative that Webb strives to collate some form of integration between differing cultures at the very locale of the border. as they come together. Turkey is noted for its secular republic though Islam may have a majority, it is a country which has embraced both ancient and modern influences in its daily way of life.