«In the borderlands of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia, a region is euphemistically
called «the emergency area” because of a long, low-level guerilla war, in which
many thousands of people have lost their lives, the dresses were still the same…
…Attitudes about sending girls to schools is complex, a combination of traditional
values, in which girls are expected to stay home, and a suspicion of anything
that represents the state. Increasingly conscious of this situation, the Turkish
government launched a campaign to get more girls into schools. For some of the
poorer families, small fi nancial incentives were off ered. Slowly the numbers of girls
enrolling into the schools rose.
I wanted to make a series of portraits these girls on the borderlands. Knowing
their status I wanted to give a small space for the girls to have a small moment of
importance in front of a camera…
Many things touched me during the making of these images. I was touched by the
gravity in their demeanour at the moment in front of the camera, their fragility,
their simplicity, their grace, their closeness to one another, but most of all I was
struck by their complete lack of posturing».

Vanessa Winship