Alaya Family

Photograph of the family of Michail Ananiadis in Alaya. He served as a judge in Alaya, was a jurist, and originated from Iconium (Konya) in Asia Minor. The composition presents a large Christian family of the town in a typical posed studio portrait of the period. The men wear fezzes and more European-style clothing, while the women and adolescent girls wear traditional Asia Minor dress, adorned with elaborate jewellery and coins across the chest.
The presence of three generations and the group’s symmetrical arrangement are characteristic of family portraits in early 20th-century Asia Minor. The image is a valuable document of daily life and the social structure of the Greeks of Alaya before the expulsion of 1922.
Donated to the collection of the Alaya Association and exhibited at the ALAYA Cultural Centre from the archive of the Hatzistefanou family (formerly Aposoglou), specifically by the granddaughter Maria Malerou.