// SEFA YAMAK · V.2026CANLI
SEFA YAMAK

02 · 2015–2017 · Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · 15 photographs

The Hardest Winter

Fifteen portraits from Kars and the high villages of eastern Anatolia, made in the depth of winter — the body of work behind the Bioderma 'Untitled Portraits' exhibition. Faces, animals, snow.

[ Series manifesto ]

I went to Kars in winter because winter is when the place tells the truth. Minus twenty, three metres of snow, the road in and out half-closed. The people who live a whole life in that — shepherds, fishermen, riders, grandmothers, kids in the snow with their toys — carry the cold in their faces and stand in it as if it were nothing. Nothing here was posed. A man with his church behind him, a boy gripping everything he owns, a flock coming down a white road, a frozen fish over a shoulder. I asked, mostly with my hands, and they let me make one frame of an ordinary day in the hardest place I know, and then they went back to it. This is the work the Bioderma exhibition was drawn from.

[ Archive context ]

PlaceKars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey
Years2015–2017
EditionEdition of 25, archival pigment on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm
ThemesBlack and white · Rural portraiture · Winter · Silence
Tone
Format
Portrait(8)
An elderly woman in a floral headscarf rests her chin on a worked hand, soulful eyes, eastern Anatolia — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25What She's Seen
A bearded man in a wool cap presses his forehead to a horse's, eye to eye in winter — fine art black-and-white portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25An Understanding
Tight black-and-white portrait of a hooded young man with textured skin and an intense gaze, Kars — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Out of the Dark
A young herder in a hooded work jacket stands among his cattle on frozen ground — fine art black-and-white portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25The Herd at His Back
A village boy grins with two prominent front teeth, snow behind him, eastern Anatolia — fine art black-and-white portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25The Easiest Smile
A shepherd leads his flock down a snow-covered village road through heavy snowfall, Kars — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Down Through the Snow
A small boy holds his toys close, eyes glistening, standing in the snow, Kars — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Everything He Owns
A young woman seen through a window, the street reflected over her face, black-and-white, eastern Anatolia — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Through Glass
Landscape(7)
A weathered man in a cap and leather jacket stands below a centuries-old stone church at dusk, Kars — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Older Than the Town
Black-and-white close portrait of an old man in a flat cap smoking a cigarette, deep lines across his face, Kars — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Where the Years Show
A young man crouches with his dog on a snowy plateau below Kars fortress in winter — fine art black-and-white portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Under the Fortress
A man in a wool cap cradles a white pigeon against snow-covered mountains, eastern Anatolia — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25The Weight of a Bird
A fisherman in a wool cap shoulders a large frozen fish above snowy hills — fine art black-and-white portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25What the Ice Gives
Black-and-white profile of a weathered man beside his ornamented horse before a winter game — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Two Old Companions
Two boys press close behind a frost-and-lace covered window, one smiling, one solemn, eastern Anatolia — fine art portrait by Sefa Yamak, The Hardest Winter series.
Kars, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey · Ed. of 25Behind the Frost

[ Read around this series ]

What black and white takes awayColor is information. A portrait is usually about one thing, and most of the time the color is telling you about something else.

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