Kırkpınar by Elif Öztürk
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Publisher: AA Kitap / Anadolu Ajansı, Ankara, 2024
Editor: Nevzat Yıldırım
Format: Clothbound hardcover, 17.5 × 22.5 cm, black-and-white photography, English language
Edition: First edition
Pages: 96
ISBN: 978-625-95181-7-6
In Kırkpınar, Anadolu Ajansı photojournalist Elif Öztürk turns her lens on the centuries-old Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Festival, documenting both the ritual intensity of preparation and the physical drama of the three-day competition in Edirne’s historic “field of valor.” Presented entirely in black and white, the series moves between bodies, gestures, oil, fatigue and concentration, stripping the spectacle back to its essential forms. Recognized by World Press Photo, Öztürk’s work approaches Kırkpınar not simply as sport, but as a living cultural structure—one in which endurance, masculinity, repetition and ceremony continue to bind contemporary life to a much older visual and social tradition.
