A PILLAR OF SMOKE

  • A PILLAR OF SMOKE - A LOOK AT TURKEY’S CONTEMPORARY SCENE VOLKAN ASLAN, KÜRŞAD BAYHAN, CIHAN DEMIRAL, SINEM DIŞLI, MATHIAS...

    A PILLAR OF SMOKE - A LOOK AT TURKEY’S CONTEMPORARY SCENE

    VOLKAN ASLAN, KÜRŞAD BAYHAN, CIHAN DEMIRAL, SINEM DIŞLI, MATHIAS DEPARDON, NILBAR GÜREŞ, KORHAN KARAOYSAL, ALI KAZMA, NAR PHOTOS (COLLECTIVE), DESISLAVA ŞENAY MARTINOVA, CENGIZ TEKIN, FURKAN TEMIR, MEHMET ALI UYSAL

    CURATED BY ILGIN DENIZ AKSELOĞLU AND YANN PERREAU

    Volkan Aslan (1982), Kürşad Bayhan (1980), Cihan Demiral (1986), Sinem Dişli (1982), Mathias Depardon (1980), Nilbar Güreş (1977), Korhan Karaoysal (1981), Ali Kazma (1971), Nar Photos (Collective), Desislava Şenay Martinova (1987), Cengiz Tekin (1977), Furkan Temir (1995), Mehmet Ali Uysal (1976)

    A Pillar of Smoke features work by artists and photographers who, from Diyarbakır to an Istanbul slum, from Trabzon (Trebizond) to central Anatolia, document today’s Turkey, a multi-faceted nation of obvious contradictions.

    The project began as a reflection on the creation, dissemination and reception of various kinds of images and art works in the context of what Turkey is presently going through. There is also a dialogue about those issues, ongoing for over a year now, with those whose work is on display here. When the official discourse tries to mask or distort reality, a new relationship to facts and the truth emerges. Today, Turkey’s artists, journalists and intellectuals take risks just by doing their jobs. This show pays tribute to those who continue expressing themselves despite conditions of extreme adversity.

    Ilgın Deniz Akseloğlu and Yann Perreau

  • Sinem Dişli, Sand in a Whirlwind, 2015.

    Dams over the Euphrates have led to inequality in water distribution among Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and the senseless use of water and soil in Urfa caused desertification in the region beyond the southern border of Turkey. The Sudden and extreme enrichment that came with the dam at the side of Urfa, the changes that are characterized as economic development are transforming the overirrigated and overcultivated plains with sandstorms that now and then comes from the desertified regions of the Middle East that are condemned to drought and remind us that nature is a whole without borders.

    Courtesy of the artist.

  • Cihan Demiral, Signs That Everything Is Going Wrong. Courtesy of the artist
  • Cihan Demiral, Signs That Everything Is Going Wrong, from the Will the World End in A Daytime series, 2017-ongoing (A Pillar of Smoke exhibition). Courtesy of the artist.
  • Furkan Temir, What Makes a War, 2015-2016
  • Volkan Aslan, Self-portrait, 2004 (A Pillar of Smoke exhibition). Courtesy of the artist.