A Manual for Making a Lake is a photographic series documenting the final period of Artvin’s Yusufeli district before it was submerged by the reservoir of the dam, and the transformation that followed. Focusing on forced displacement, spatial transformation, and social change, the project explores through a visual narrative how a town can disappear both physically and socially.

 

The Yusufeli Dam, built on the Çoruh River, was completed, fundamentally reshaping the region’s geography and settlement pattern. Although Yusufeli has been relocated several times throughout its history, this latest move was unique, it involved abandoning the old town to the rising waters while constructing an entirely new settlement. Because the construction of the dam was repeatedly postponed over many years, the people of Yusufeli lived in prolonged uncertainty, as if suspended between staying and leaving. Through this project, I witnessed a brief chapter of their lives during that fragile period. Today, the old Yusufeli lies completely beneath the water, while the new town continues its existence on a different topography, with a new spatial order.

 

A Manual for Making a Lake is not only about the physical transformation of a place but also about the impact of that transformation on the people who lived there. How do a town’s history, collective memory, and sense of belonging change as the water rises? How do people rebuild their lives in a newly constructed town? By following these questions, A Manual for Making a Lake investigates the relationships between place, identity, and memory.