The Unseen
A Photo Book
(2021)
"The Unseen" is Bilal Bikile Mohamed’s debut photo book documenting spiritual excerpts and beauties of a COVID-era Istanbul, and other Turkish cities.
About the book:
“Escaping political and racial tensions,
spiritual deprivation, and the godlessness so closely associated with the west,
I temporarily, though selfishly, abandoned my home in America for Istanbul. For two months during the 2020 pandemic, I captured sporadic situations and visual fragments, unearthing the quiet appeals of a life that has been presently difficult to live. Many pictures were photographed with a meticulous eye and many pictures were photographed without looking at all. What I perceived as “the unseen” was with the intention to only capture figures from behind or faces hidden with a mask covering. Focusing on the crevices and concealed areas of normally bustling cities, I revealed the act of my photography becoming unseen itself.”