Selami

A Philosophy of Life in Photographs

A documentary series made in Kalecik, a small town of about 12,500 people on the Kızılırmak River, 70 km from Ankara. Its subject is Selami - a former pharmacist, self-taught painter, volunteer tour guide, and owner of the small OvaBag winery on land inherited from his father.

Selami grows Kalecik Karası, "the black of the little castle" - an indigenous red with roots going back thousands of years, saved from extinction and still almost unknown abroad. He is one of only five producers in the area, and dreams of turning Kalecik into a wine region to rival Tuscany.

The series is not really about wine. It is about the man and his choice to carry on - the conviction that a place, a land, and a tradition deserve to survive. Shot over two days on a Fujifilm X100T, mostly unposed, during conversations and storytelling.