{"id":725,"date":"2025-07-21T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/?p=725"},"modified":"2025-07-29T16:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T16:08:11","slug":"marcel-heijnen-captures-loving-portraits-of-feisty-feral-felines-in-city-cats-of-istanbul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/21\/marcel-heijnen-captures-loving-portraits-of-feisty-feral-felines-in-city-cats-of-istanbul\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcel Heijnen Captures Loving Portraits of Feisty, Feral Felines in \u2018City Cats of Istanbul\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marcel<\/p>\n

In some parts of the world, stray animals are nearly as beloved as pets. Thousands of dogs roam the streets of Cusco, Peru, for example, and cats pretty much rule the night in places like Athens, Valletta, and Japan\u2019s \u201ccat islands<\/a>.\u201d Local residents often feed and provide shelter for these roving colonies, and for Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen<\/a>, this human-animal connection provides endless opportunities to experience urban centers.<\/p>\n

Previously exploring cities in China and Hong Kong, where street cats are abundant, Heijnen recently brought his camera to the largest city in Turkey to chronicle some of the most famous feral felines in Europe. A forthcoming book from Thames & Hudson, City Cats of Istanbul,<\/em> celebrates the area\u2019s local four-legged shop attendants, guardians, cuddlers, and consummate snoozers.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/figure>\n

Heijnen captures the spirit of Istanbul through portraits of its residents, shops, homes, and serendipitous interactions. While some images focus on cats up-close, other images emphasize the city\u2019s remarkable atmosphere and playfully invite us to seek out where felines are perched or playing. Many cats are documented in moments of calm repose, while others appear as though they\u2019ve been caught red-handed, climbing up architectural elements or embracing all manner of archetypal kitty chaos.<\/p>\n

See more of Heijnen\u2019s photos on his website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>, and pre-order your copy of City Cats of Istanbul <\/em>on Bookshop<\/a>. If you\u2019re in Istanbul in September, stop by the release event at 6 p.m. on September 20 at the Cat Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"a<\/figure>\n
\"the<\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Marcel Heijnen Captures Loving Portraits of Feisty, Feral Felines in \u2018City Cats of Istanbul\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In some parts of the world, stray animals are nearly as beloved as pets. Thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}