Elif Şahin
Independent researcher · Oral traditions
I document languages and soundscapes at the edge of disappearance. Fifteen years in the field, mostly in places that don't appear on research maps. When a language dies, the world loses not just words but an entire way of noticing things. I'm trying to slow the losing.
Profile texture
Access
- Restricted estuary zones
- Remote Caucasus villages
- Black Sea fishing communities
Languages
- Turkish
- Laz
- Georgian (field level)
- Mingrelian (archive level)
Skills
- Binaural field recording
- Ethnographic interviewing
- Archive construction
- Photography
Network
- Linguistic institutes (Istanbul, Tbilisi)
- Turkish Natural History Survey
- 3 independent oral archives
Work2 briefs
Field recordings of natural environments under acoustic threat from development and climate change. Coastal wetlands, highland ecosystems, estuary zones across the Black Sea coast. 10 recordings, 5,000-word narrative, 30 photographs.
Approach: binaural, dawn/dusk capture, focusing on estuary zones with existing restricted access.
Produced by
Thornfield & Co
Sustainable materials
£800/month
Adjarian Voices
Living archive of Adjarian dialect speakers — 34 recorded conversations, field notes, and contextual photographs. First systematic archive of the dialect's coastal variant. Freely available to researchers.
Produced by
Hinterland Group
Land stewardship
£650/month
Wildmind
Sponsorship for independent lives.