Habip Koçak Photography
I Can't Breathe
The brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 was recorded by people before and after the murder, and after it was recorded on social media, similar problems were experienced in almost every country in the world, especially in the US. Despite the pandemic and quarantine measures, people took to the streets, protested and somehow demanded accountability.
In general, it is possible to say that the root causes of all civil movements are based on social justice, human rights demands, anti-racism, freedom, equality, welfare and similar causes.
This book is about the protests that took place in Oxford and London in August and are a tribute to the people around the world who lost their lives against racism, injustice and discrimination.
KAKAVA Behind The Scenes
This book is about Kakava and Hıdırellez, one of the indispensable Turkish holidays celebrated on May 5th. According to Islam, Hıdırellez is celebrated as the day when the prophets Hızır and İlyas met on Earth. It also celebrates the arrival of summer. People pray on this day, regardless of their wishes. They secretly write or draw their wishes on a piece of paper and throw it into the Tunca River and then come to the festival area and continue their celebrations. Many photographers work in the festival area. But I wanted to share about the festival, how Roma people prepare for the festival and what they do after the festival. This project lasted 2 years between 2018-2019. I am grateful to everyone I met and photographed for this book.
This project consists of photographs I took between 2015 and 2020. I wanted to focus more on the emotional moments of the people who are my subjects in the photographs I took sincerely. I aimed to highlight the feelings of my models by stripping them of their identities. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed taking them and that we experience the same emotions together. No matter how much I don't know my models, maybe I will never see them again, but the story of most of them will remain with me.
I thank all my models for accompanying me in this process.