Kevin Wolf spent over two years returning to Istanbul, capturing the social contrasts in the everyday lives of its people. What he discovered was "hüzün" – a feeling that Istanbul-born writer Orhan Pamuk once described as a "collectively shared melancholy", a deep-rooted sense of loss and longing that has shaped the city's soul for centuries. It is an emotion closely linked to Istanbul’s historical tensions – between East and West, political Islam and liberalism, tradition and modernity.

The series HÜZÜN is Kevin Wolf’s attempt to visualize this unique Istanbul feeling that drifts from the misty banks of the Bosphorus to the narrow alleys of the steep hillside neighborhoods in Türkiye’s largest metropolis.
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Author biography

Kevin Wolf is a street, editorial, and portrait photographer based in Cologne, Germany. Alongside his photography, he teaches photojournalism and works as a journalist.

In his projects, he explores themes of cultural and national identity, people’s relationships to their personal and collective past, social dynamics, and the nuances of everyday life.

In 2024, he published his first photobook, HÜZÜN – a visual meditation on the deep-rooted melancholy of Istanbul, a city shaped by historical identity conflicts and the ongoing tension between tradition and the younger generation’s desire for progress.