212 Magazine – Issue 2

212 magazine Issue 2 (Locality) is available now on loremnotipsum.com. This issue takes us to many different shores; from the fields in which Turkish oil wrestlers grapple, through the living room of a Chilean exiled in San Francisco, to a replica of Paris in China, with these same questions on our lips: What places is this? What kingdom? What shores of what world? The second issue revolved around the ideas of Locality. With this we aim to seek out and exhibit the homegrown – whether it be art, culture, language, fashion, tradition or craft – and consider how it frames communities’ experience and interacts with the world outside.

Content: 212 Magazine – Issue 2

• The Legendary Oil Wrestlers – Portrait photography by Cüneyt Akeroğlu.
• Modern Miniature – Exclusive illustrations by Murat Palta accompanied by an essay by Tarkan Okçuoğlu.
• Pens – Short Story by Yaşar Kemal, illustration by JooHee Yoon.
• Write What Should Not Be Forgotten – Interview with author Isabel Allende by Tobias Garnett, photographed by Amy Harrity.
• Bienvenue A Paris, China – Interview with director Romain Gavras, photography by Kim Chapiron.
• The 1400 Year-Old Teenager – Essay by Pico Iyer, illustration by Deanna Donagan.
• Home Away From Home – Fashion story by Mia Dabrowski, Styling by Berenger Pelc.
• Nothing Is Real – Photo Essay by Ekin Özbiçer.
• Rodeo Girls – Portrait photography by Ilona Szwarc.
• Beyond Locality: The Voyage of the Shitty Pebble – Essay by Gohar Homayanpour, illustration by Ayça Göker.

The magazine

212 magazine is a new biannual publication from Istanbul. It contains short fiction and long-form reportage; distinctive photo essays and revealing interviews. Even though it was born in the city where east meets west (as the love-worn cliche goes), the magazine seeks to transcend the loaded dichotomies of Istanbul’s favourite metaphor, and extends its gaze far beyond the region.

The name “212” comes from the area code for Istanbul, but it also happens to be the area code for New York – a piece of misdirection that’s characteristic of the magazine’s ethos: as soon as you try too hard to close in on your subject it has a habit of defying you. Rather than pigeonholing ideas into narrow parameters, 212’s contributors trace connections that will surprise and delight.

Each issue is centred around a loose theme – the first is Strange Days. 212 aims to be as challenging as it is influential – to provide an inclusive space for ideas and perspectives to mix without prejudice and better interrogate social, artistic and cultural phenomena from the region and around the world.