Katil Var: Long-Awaited Photo Book on Istanbul by Charlie Kirk avaliable for pre-order

Charlie Kirk, one of my good friends and mentors has just released that his first and probably last photo book (Katil Var, “There is a Murderer”) is available for pre-order.

About the book

Written by Charlie Kirk:

Katil var means “there is a murderer”. According to many, that murderer is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey.

A professed man of the people with multiple Swiss bank accounts and over $4,000,000 stuffed in shoe boxes. A man who ordered the police to tear gas thousands in Taksim, who weeps for a dead Egyptian girl and defames a dead Turkish boy. A man who steals and distributes opposition media to friends like candy. And a man who violates human rights to lock up Selahattin Demirtas, the most charismatic politician Turkey has seen in decades. Much of this is alleged of course.  It can only ever be alleged.

Katil var. I first heard those words in the toxic and pivotal summer of 2013, during the Gezi park protests. Reverberating in and echoing around Taksim, Sisli, Okmeydani and Gazi Mahallesi. Words shouted with courage by the thousands of lithe youths that I had a crush on and wanted to be.  Words painted on walls and quickly obscured with grey paint the next morning. Words that could only be voiced in the safety of a crowd.

Katil var. A photobook of what I saw between 2012 to 2015. The short period when Erdogan was at his most vulnerable, beginning with the lead up to Gezi, Gezi itself and covering the Soma mining disaster, the refugee crisis, Newroz festivals and culminating with the loss of the AKPs majority in the summer of 2015.  A time perhaps predicted by Nazim Hikmet in his poem, Plea. 

Katil var. My first and probably last photobook. It’s the result of nearly 40,000 shots with a Leica MP, llford HP5 and an oversized flash with a sticker of a heart on it. It’s the result of being detained and deported. It’s the result of friendships gained and even better friendships lost.  And it’s the result of years of artistic insecurity, procrastination and of reconciling myself to loss.

Katil var. A website to raise funds to design, market, print and distribute that book. Pre-sales (limited to 100 at a discounted price of £35) of that book and print sales of some of my favourite shots from Tokyo and Turkey are available if you click on Shop and you can subscribe to my mailing list (which will provide info on shipping dates etc) here.  Any support would be most appreciated. Really. Thanks.

Charlie Kirk.