Artist Statement

In my work I reveal the different layers of history, mythology and the present. A form of visual archeology, at times blending or colliding with immanent social, political and ecological realities. In this way the picture also becomes a place for the imaginary and projection. It appears like a stage or filmset, pending in limbo somewhere between reality and imagination, past and present.

Current Projects

Broken Memories Cover
BROKEN MEMORIES. Catalogue-book published with Kerber Verlag, Germany, june 2023. 192 pages and 77 photographs. 22,5 × 22,5 cm, Hardcover. Text by: Refik Akyüz & Serdar Darendeliler (GAPO), Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver, Andréas Lang. Design by: Christine Gedeon. Languages: English, Turkish, Armenian. The publication is  funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. kerberverlag.com
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The book, as the exhibition, is the result of several years of artistic research on the themes of recollection and history in Turkey. This started in 2018 with my stipend and artist residency at Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul. In  photographs and video-installations I reflect on the disappearance, discontinuity and the multiple layers of historical writings as well as the overwriting that leaves visible traces of a collective memory long since rendered invisible. I focus on the contemporary approach to history, but especially on places with links to the later Ottoman Empire, the Armenian heritage and the 1915 genocide. 
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Events:
Book launch on 13 july, 18.30h. Depo, Istanbul
Exhibition from 18 april – 14 july 2023. Depo, Istanbul

 

New Babylon

New Babylon, Dubai 2020 (video-installation still, 41:24 min, loop, sound, 112.40 × 200 cm)

RE-VISITING ORIENTALISM. In this project I approach the various projections and problematics of Orientalism by overlaying historical Orientalist paintings in video-installations with contemporary sceneries and video-sequences, thus opening up a field of interpretation and hinting at geopolitical, ecological and social problems as well as political realities. The work becomes a subversive deconstruction of the Western Orientalist perspective by using its aesthetics and creating a palimpsest of the now and the Orientalist imaginary. During my research, I travelled to Istanbul, Arabian Peninsula, Caucasus, Tunesia and Central Asia. The project was initiated in 2019 with the support of Goethe Institute. It is a work in progress, and further destinations are planned for the completion of the theme.

revisting-orientalism.com

Eclipse book

ECLIPSE. Catalogue-book published with Hatje Cantz edition, Germany, february 2019. 144 pages, 70 photographs. 30x29cm Hardcover. Text by: Hans-Michael Koetzle, Stefan Weidner, Frizzi Krella. Design by: Horst Moser. Languages: German, English.  hatjecantz.de

In this work I photographed historical places in Turkey, Syria, Israel, Palestinian-Westbank and Egypt. Places that have visible or invisible traces about conflict and religious worship, that are connected to the medieval Crusades and early Christianity. The ambivalence of a so-called Holy Land. The title Eclipse stands symbolically for an obscuration as well as for an astronomic phenomena and apocalyptical portend.

There is also a signed and numbered special edition available, limited to 100 copies including a 24x30cm archival pigment print of “Megiddo”. The price is 100€. Some copies are still available, please contact me directly if you are interested.

Some preview pages of the book here.