Tolga Sezgin is no stranger to the world of documentary photography and his latest
project highlights the plight of large numbers of agricultural workers in south
east Turkey who lost the land they farmed because of military conflict and are
now forced to travel long distances with their families in search of work.
Thirty-four year old Tolga, a participant in a World Press Photo seminar in
Turkey, started social documentary nine years ago and his first project, of
street children, is used widely by campaigners attempting to solve the problem.
After an internship with the Corbis agency, Tolga went to Iraq with human shields
to record their experiences and is one of the founders of the Nar
Photos agency in Turkey.
About his project with the traveling farm laborers, Tolga says: “A state
of emergency in south east Turkey has emptied nearly four thousand villages
in the last twenty years and that has meant agricultural workers have had to
travel to find work. The problem is that employment law for agricultural workers
in Turkey is 150 years old and there is little protection”.
“In a way,” concludes Tolga, “they are the slaves of the 21st
century”.
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