Unearthed

This is the long term photography project on the Gallipoli peninsula and the island of Gökçeada in Turkey. His work consists of selenium-toned silver gelatin prints done by the author himself. It is therefore a completely analogue work from start to finish. In it, the photographer presents the narrow peninsula as a territory of high historical and human value, most famous for the infamous and bloody battle of the First World War, but whose lands have suffered the consequences of its high geostrategic value and its exceptionality. geographical in numerous previous events. These fertile and sunny lands continue to bear fruit in cycles that the author witnesses and values thanks to the temporal extension of the project. In turn, the island of Gökçeada is located a short distance from the peninsula, with which it has historical ties. Of a similar geographical nature, it served as a military base for the Allies in the First World War, has archaeological sites thousands of years old and received exceptional treatment in population exchanges between Greece and Turkey. Even today it is one of the few places in Türkiye with a Greek population; in fact, Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, is originally from the island.

Trabanco, with a personal and family connection to the territory, turned his interest in discovering its little-known roads and towns into a curiosity to understand the area’s buried past. Therefore, the author explores photography as a medium that can suggest and make us reflect on what is absent and on the different layers of history of a place, beyond its mere descriptive characteristics. His current photographic practice makes us reflect on the capabilities of photography to present complex, less visited territories, whose layers of history may be absent, but mark his future. Trabanco’s photography is not conceptual, since the photo cannot be replaced by another to tell the same thing. Images are powerful on their own and their context and history can be enhanced and generate new reflections in visitors, but this is not essential.

«Geography and history cannot be separated. They constantly shape each other. Mountains, valleys, coastlines, and flora have a decisive impact on where to settle or where to fight. On the other hand, human activities have a considerable impact on nature by shaping (although mostly in a destructive way) it, sometimes creating new interactions and connections. It is this inseparable bond between geography and human history that makes it possible to relate thousands of years-old natural rock formations, century-old military remnants, and contemporary fishing activities captured in a region. (…)
Trabanco’s collection mainly focuses on the peninsula called Gallipoli: Gelibolu in Turkish and Chersonese in ancient times. The peninsula lies between the Aegean and Marmara Seas, hosting the Dardanelles Strait, which is the first passage before the Bosphorus Strait for heading from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. It is because of this strategic importance that Gallipoli has been the subject of bloody wars and defensive plans throughout history..»

This is an excerpt from the text that the history professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, İbrahim Can Usta, is preparing as a contextualization of the relevance of Gallipoli and this project. The ancient history of this region, marked by the control of the territory and the change of hands, continues its course today with a geographical peculiarity thanks to having a part of its territory protected for its historical relevance. This current life, mainly agrarian, is exported abroad in the anonymity of its wheat or with well-known wine brands. Its fishing is a structuring factor of the region, both on its shore next to the Sea of Marmara and across the peninsula towards the fishing ports of the Aegean Sea. Its beaches, witnesses of bloody battles, welcome the few visitors with crystal clear waters and interesting rock formations. From the peninsula you can see the island of Imbros/Gökçeada and the ferries that cross it. To your right, the Greek island of Samothrace, totally disconnected from Turkish territory, but just as close.

Photographers can only show what is present today. Trabanco is interested in suggesting the absent, in making the viewer’s imagination fly. The context of the territory generates associations that are not intended to be controlled. Sometimes a deeper explanation of the image completely changes what is seen. In others, its meaning is left open. And the photographer, whether he wants to or not, while taking a shot of the present is also photographing the history that happened in that territory, with its marks or its absence.

Writing about the work of Bleda and Rosa, winners of the Spanish National Photography Prize, Cortés-Rocca states that

«History is a territorial record of time. (…) If until now [s. XIX] the landscape was valid as a metaphor for something else –the feelings, the state of mind of the aesthetic subject– from photography, every landscape is what it is: the world, the real, materiality itself.»

In their work Battlefields, the authors present us with innocuous, decontextualized, empty landscapes. It is the added context of a battle that changes our reading of the image, makes us imagine what happened in that place.

Gallipoli is a special place for Trabanco. Having spent many months over the last five years in the territory, exploring its roads, its towns and hills, he has created a deep connection with this land. Its depth and relevance, sometimes unknown or simplified, seems increasingly difficult to fully understand. Trabanco presents a work of great visual and photographic interest, with reflections on the territory and photographic practice as a narrative tool.