(desktop only)
Point Unstill focuses on the photographs and writings of Gertrude Bell, an English archaeologist, photographer, colonial diplomat, explorer and writer, during her studies in Anatolia in the early 1900s. Bell's photographs are significant in terms of both quality and quantity, as they represent the first photographs taken in many places in Anatolia. The Gertrude Bell Archive belongs to Newcastle University Special Collections and is accessible online.
Between June 2021 and June 2023, the journeys made by Bell in Central Anatolia and the Aegean regions were retraced, and her photographs were rephotographed around 115 years later. Alongside the re-photographed images, the project includes photographs taken from different perspectives during these journeys, as well as excerpts from Bell's writings and Karakurt's own writings. Together they evoke an image of Turkey then and now that is more complex than the usual sunny all-inclusive tourist image suggests.
The project aims to open a dialogue between the past and the present, the local and the foreign, by combining photography and interaction design. It explores how interaction design can reinterpret archival material and personal journeys, creating an engaging, multilayered visual experience that contributes to digital humanities.
This Project is supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) and Newcastle University Special Collections Gertrude Bell Archive.
