Migration and Cultural Heritage in Izmir: Visualizing Basmane Through Collage

A creative workshop led by Dr. Hasan Işıklı at Yaşar University explored how migration and cultural heritage intersect in Izmir’s Basmane district, as students visualized urban memory through collage.

On October 21^st, Yaşar University UNESCO Chair on International Migration organized a lecture and infographic collage workshop titled “Migration and Cultural Heritage: Images of Basmane” moderated by Associate Professor Elif Çetin and run by Dr. Hasan Işıklı, the founder of Hi Journey Studio.

The event was attended by the bachelor students of international students from Yaşar University (YU) and Izmir Katip Çelebi University (İKÇU) including Erasmus students from France and Slovakia. The collaboration of two universities and Hi Journey Studio was realized thanks to Prof. Dr. Makbule Didem Buhari.

Dr. Işıklı presented first how Basmane neighborhood in Izmir (former Smyrna in English) has changed dramatically because of the modernization and migration flows from last quarter of the 19^th century till nowadays, then he gave examples on collage as an expression form.

International Relation students of YU and IKÇU designed fascinating posters in groups about the current issues of Basmane with the collage technique made of old magazines and newspapers. After making their own recalling and research, they defined their theme and what to claim on Basmane. Finally, they enjoyed applying manual way of graphic design principles by paying attention to visual hierarchy, color use and alignment. Disconnected for a while from the internet and their smartphones, international relations students from two different universities met each other and engaged into this less known migration story of Izmir which might clash with cultural heritage and tourism in the context of urban memory.