Diyarbakir

One might imagine the whole old Diyarbakır city as basalt flooding from earth.

But the transformation of the plateau into this three dimensional physical reality,

is actually the history of a culture.

--Mehmet Atlı

Mapping Diyarbakır Geologically

In Diyarbakır region it is formed from the lava eruptions of Karacadağ Volcano

spreading over a vast geography of approximately 10,000 km2.

The Kurdish city of Diyarbakır is situated in Southeastern Anatolia.

In the summer of 2013 I was invited by British Council Turkey and Anadolu Kültür to be artist in residence in the city, and produce a video work responding to the urban space.

Monumental 5km basalt walls surround the old city, Suriçi, punctuated by gates and watchtowers.

Built, appended, and inscribed by waves of former civilizations over the last 5000 years, the basalt boundaries and buildings of Suriçi create the central locus of the city for its residents, as well as the municipality's focus for the development of the city's future cultural and economic identity.

It takes an hour to get from the furthest part of the city to its historical centre.

It is growing faster than you can imagine.

The shape of the contemporary city is bounded on its eastern edge by the fertile banks of the Dicle (Tigris) river, and from the north by urban-military infrastructures for thousands of Turkish troops. These consist of apartment blocks that serve as barracks, high-fenced enclosures with armed guards and administrative centres, and armoured Turkish vehicles that regularly patrol the streets.

The urban space was under a wave of gentrification that was displacing Kurdish families from self-built settlements inside the old city walls, close to family groups and services, to tower blocks at the edge of the city.