P! and Protocinema collaborate to present Vahap Avşar, Lost Shadows, [AND Museum], 2015, a selection of republished and distributable photographs from the found image archive of the Turkish company, AND, in the form of postcards.

In the late 1970s, AND Postcard Company dispatched individual photographers around Turkey to photograph the country in order to make postcards for national distribution. AND postcards were intended for domestic use, for family members to stay in touch with loved ones who had moved from rural areas to urban centers, or who were serving their required military service. The work of these photographers was unearthed by Avşar in 2010; Lost Shadows, [AND Museum], is a set of twelve postcards created out of an archive of over 15,000 images.

Avşar’s selection, possessing the perspective of distance and time, reveal the codes of conduct between the existing powers and constituencies of the period. Evidence of the tensions of late 1970s and the oppression following the September 12, 1980 military coup are exposed in images of public military marches, controlled water sources, and organized mass-athletics. More subtle signifiers such as the white Renault 12 (the car most commonly used by the undercover government agencies of that period) show these conflicts permeating daily life. Re-contextualizing and distributing these images to new audiences, Avşar makes visible repression and the contestation of civic space as timely topics of concern.