Breathing Space, 2026 Digital intervention on documentary photography

While walking in the rain along a fixed route, I encountered a small yet defiant informal dwelling surrounded by excavators. It stood as if resisting erasure. Recalling Murat Germen’s Fikirtepe “Tower of Babel” (2014), I imagined smoke rising from its chimney — a sign that life still persisted. I later inserted this imagined smoke into the photograph, transforming a gesture of resistance into a visual element. The work questions why “height” is glorified in contemporary urban culture. Skyscrapers appear less as necessity and more as symbols of dominance — assertions of visibility and power. The smoke rising from the gecekondu becomes a fragile yet clear counter-gesture: upward, uncontrolled, and modest. It suggests that space is not defined solely by concrete and elevation, and that even the tallest structures may suffocate. Breathing Space reflects on resistance as a minimal yet forceful interruption within imposed narratives of progress.