Ali’nin Koço’su (Ali’s Koço)

For several years now painter and photographer Ali Arif Ersen has been bed-ridden, a victim of Locked-in Syndrome, able to communicate only with small movements of his eyes. Asked what he would photograph tomorrow if he was able, he spelled out K-o-ç-o, using a laser pointer attached to his glasses and a board of letters (Koço being one of Istanbul’s oldest and most loved meyhanes). Not an altogether surprising answer: in a 2008 interview with Turkish daily Hurriyet, Ersen was asked what he misses most. L-ü-f-e-r-v-e-s-e-k-s came the reply: bluefish and sex.

The exhibition consists of 18 photographs of the restaurant, each by a different photographer and friend of Ali Arif Ersen. The entire income from the exhibition will be granted to Ali Arif Ersen.