Alex Webb - Istanbul

In 'Istanbul - City of a Hundred Names', Magnum photographer Alex Webb displays his particular ability to distill gesture, color and contrasting cultural tensions into a single, beguiling frame. He presents a vision of Istanbul as an urban cultural center, rich with the incandescence of its past - a city of minarets and pigeons rising to the heavens during the early-morning call to Muslim prayers - yet also a city riddled with ATM machines and clothed in designer jeans. Webb first visited Istanbul in 1998, and became instantly enthralled: by the people, the layers of culture and history, the richness of street life. But what particularly drew him in was a sense of Istanbul as a border city, lying between Europe and Asia.