Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Sultan from Turkey. The worlds tallest man as ascribed by the Guiness Book of Records. January 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

PingPing, The worlds shortest man as ascribed by the Guiness Book of Records. PingPing died in Rome 3 months later. January 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

A Muay Thai kick boxer in Istanbul. October 2008.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

The cryo-storage liquid nitrogen unit of the King Hussein Cancer Hospital; Amman, Jordan. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

A resident of an illegal "gecekondu" or overnight town enters the local mosque, one of the last remaining buildings in this threatened community. Turkey, 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Kadir returns to his former "gecekondu" or illegal "overnight" home for the first time in 2 months since it was knocked down by the authorities. Turkey, 2009

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Hanging off Ataturk's statue in Taksim square, protestors showed their anger at the deaths by Israeli commandos on board the Mavi Marmara ship that had tried to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza. June 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

May Day Protests 2008 Istanbul Turkey. Turkish Police officers move in the direction of May Day protestors. Tear & pepper gas was used widely during the day when protesters gathered. October 2008.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Serkan aged 13 displays the bullet entry wound in his buttock from Iranian border guards in March 2009. His brother DoÄŸan died in that incident. In 2008 Serkan had been shot in the other leg in a separate incident. April 2009

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Ekin heads off to the mountains that mark out the border between Iran and Turkey; empty barrels either side waiting to be filled with cheap Iranian diesel and smuggled back to Turkey. March 2009

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Calling the Iranian contacts on the other side of the Turkish border; can the smuggling operation continue past the Iranian soldiers guarding the border? Eventually they decide it's not worth the risk and abandon the operation for the day. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

One of the smugglers keeps the horses in order as he skirts the hills avoiding the Iranian troops who man the Turkey-Iran border. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Work on the new Syrian stock exchange, part of the 8th Gate Project on outskirts of Damascus. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

A water filling station in Jordan. The districts of capital Amman receive water only on one day of the week; the rest of the time they have to purchase water privately. As the population grows, so the water table drops even further. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

"There's no work for us but sexwork. I'd love to work in an office, but they'll never have me." A transexual prostitute dries her nails before heading out for the night. 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Turkey Syria Border. Customs officials are diligent in checking products and locations for the most inventive of smugglers. 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

The first day of the Ergenekon coup trial in Turkey. Kemal Alemdarogluc, former rector of Istanbul University and his family leave the courtroom surrounded by nationalist supporters. October 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010, Itanbul, Turkey

PORTFOLIO

In Turkey a child's circumcision date is an event which can cost families considerable amounts of money, and consequently was often delayed until family finances could match expectations. The municipality has stepped in to offer free circumcisions and street parties in order that boys don't reach their teenage years before being circumcised. 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

"Everybody has to have a good standard of living. Even if I have a good life but others don't, it's no good." Tarlabasi, Istanbul 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

"The top two floors couldn't pay their bills, so none of us has water now." Tarlabasi, Istanbul 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

The Forgotten Fields of Tarlabaşı. The Tarlabaşı district of Istanbul is due for redevelopment. Istanbul, 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

"When is it going to be destroyed? Some people say 6 months, others say 4 years. No one knows." Sevda, Tarlabasi, Istanbul. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

The street lights have been turned off for over 2 years now. Residents believe that this is part of a deliberate policy to force them to leave. Tarlabasi, Istanbul 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Al Jazeera's TV station, Qatar. It is believed by many to have been a potential target due to it's coverage of the 2004 Fallujah assault by US forces and the stations corresponding coverage of events. 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

High on the slopes in the Alps, a late afternoon reveller parties before skiiing down to the resort of Chamonix. France. February 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Waves of murders amonsts the Christian community in Iraq have led to the population of Mosel dropping by 50% from 1.5m in the last few years. Many use Turkey as a base for their requests for aslym abroad. This Iraqi Christian helps his relatives emigrate to Arizona, USA after 18 months in Turkey. 2010.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Residents of an illegal "gecekondu" or "overnight town" make their way up the hill. Part of the process of removing them from their homes is to cut the power to the district. November 2008.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Thursday August 19, 2010

PORTFOLIO

Workers prepare the wall at the Yenikapi site for a drilling rig to start work on the Marmaray tunnel project under the Bosphorus. 2009.

Credit: Jonathan Lewis / Polaris

Jonathan Lewis

Jonathan Lewis was born in 1969. He previously worked in international telecoms for 15 years before his passion for photography and a MA in Documentary Photography won through! Since 2005 he has worked as a freelance documentary photographer for international magazines and newspapers throughout Europe and the US, including the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Politiken and The Times. He is a regular contributor of social documentary work to EurasiaNet and the Open Society Institute specializing in Turkey and the Central Asia region. He has spent much of the last year investigating the issues surrounding urban development, regeneration and social migration across the Central Asian region, most particularly in Turkey. He is completing a body of work on the forced population exchanges of the 20th century between Greece and Turkey and the ongoing impact of those policies today. He is based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Personal web site of Jonathan Lewis