Artist Timurtaş Onan is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the series ‘NIGHTS ON BEYOGLU’. To see Timurtaş’ body of work, click on any image.

In my work titled “Nights in Beyoğlu”, I experienced that magical atmosphere for many nights and touched the lives of night people. What appeals to me the most is that Beyoğlu is a free region both urban and foreign, with high tension, eroticism, extreme contrast, variability and chaotic repercussions. Welfare and poverty, hope and despair coexist. There is not only material poverty, but also spiritual poverty. It’s really hard to exist in the metropolis. Just like in metropolises like New York, gaps between people’s lives are inevitable for a crowded city that receives a lot of immigration. Frankly, there isn’t enough room for everyone. It is possible to see this in Beyoğlu as well. People having fun, people who come to scribble a few pennies at night, homeless people lying on cardboard boxes, alcoholic old movie extras and desperate people who have lost their minds. The great crowd, enthusiasm and anger coexist, though the loneliness is immeasurable.

I avoided the fictional scenes and entered the Beyoğlu crucible. It was very important for me that the people I met on the streets shared this moment with me with all their sincerity. Sometimes I went invisible and took dynamic shots out of the night.