“tabankes” (dictionary meaning: wayfarer; the one who walks and exclusively walks, the eternal foot traveler.) Aslımay Altay Göney encountered this word in Abidin Dino’s book Sinan. She thought this term could very well be the tittle of her exhibition where she worked up on a visual road story on Devshirme kids who were obliged to wayfare to İstanbul all the way from middle Anatolia.

galeri apel They were on foot …They hit the road from the Anatolian steppes…It had almost been a centruy since Istanbul was conquered…They walked …Dressed in red cloaks, hoods and shoes, they looked crimsonThere was abundance of water, bread and grapes…They walked…They hushed, they sulked, they got astonished…It had only been a short while since they all became Devshirmes…They were wayfarers,They hit the road from the Anatolian steppes…They saw the Galata Tower; Sülaymaniye was not yet at its placeaslımay altay