100 years ago the Treaty of Lausanne led to the forced expulsion of over 1.2 million Christians
from Turkiye and over 400,000 Muslims from Greece. The population exchange shaped the
modern world and the nation state system. Both modern countries can scarcely be explained
without reference to it.
This series documents several locations where these expulsions took place, focusing on the
inherited architecture of the other. These remaining fragments of the past raise a number of
important issues about the politics of national memory, the role of architecture and how such
heritage should be interacted with.
Simultaneously, the continual physical presence of these structures in now seemingly 'foreign'
landscapes and societies, can be interpreted to represent the lingering intergenerational trauma of
forced migration and the inherited diasporic feeling still present in the descendants of
exchangees. It is hoped these observations might elicit broader questions about how
contemporary forced migrations will shape our world a hundred years from now.
Will Young
My name is Will Young and I am a documentary photographer from Cornwall, UK. As a graduate
in international relations, I am fascinated by memory, identity and the nation state. Recently I have
been intrigued by how identities and narratives are constructed when the raw material of group
memories consists of intense hardship and suffering such as war and forced migration. How do
we construct a positive image of the self and a united image of the nation out of traumatic
events? What do we include and exclude from a collective memory? How do we practically
incorporate old identities in new places?
Following these interests, I have been working on a personal project reflecting on the 100 year
anniversary of the Greek- Turkish population exchange. My recent work has focused on the
material aspects that remain of this memory, presenting them as they are; imposing obstacles in
the physical landscape, and symbolically as uncomfortable interruptions in the national memory.
Selected images from this series will be featured this year at Glasgow Gallery of Photography, as
part of Loosenart's 'Mimesis' exhibition in Rome and at Chania International Photo Festival.
www.wjyoungphoto.com
@wjyoungphoto
