Ashura in Istanbul

3/18/2016

Scenes from the Ashura Commemorations of Zeynebiye (by Alphan Yilmazmaden)

Millions of Shia Muslims are gathering at shrines and mosques for Ashura, which falls on the tenth day of the holy month of Muharram. The festival commemorates the slaying of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein at the battle of Kerbala, now in southern Iraq, in AD 680.

The story of this martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala and its commemoration is of particular importance to Shia Muslims around the world. The battle took place in 680 A.D. when the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was killed by the forces of the first Umayyad Caliph, Yazid. The residents of the nearby town Kufa began a tradition of mourning as a form of atonement for not coming to the aid of Hossein, which took on religious significance for Shia Muslims. In recent years celebrations of the event have becoming increasingly charged and imbued with sectarian meaning, particularly in sites of active conflict.

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The Bulb Collective consists of photographers active in urban (and rural) photography with an expressive shift to include highly aesthetic and poetic images in their assignments.

They share the same vision but not the same perspective which gives the necessary "polyphony" in their extremely ambitious endeavour to cover all the aspects of the Balkan neorealism.

Their visual signatures aspire to create iconic images and to be the best in metamorphosing and interpreting all aspects of life in this highly contradictory and fascinating part of the world.