Close Quarters

Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery presented "Close Quarters" exhibition that focused on contemporary photography in Turkey. The show gathered 18 artists selected by the Istanbul Modern Photography Advisory Board around the idea of creating a personal documentary. In the exhibition, individual photographs became part of an arrangement in the form of videos, installations, or prints, acquiring meaning within their unity.

In "Close Quarters", which was an unusual record of the personal and the ordinary, the artists focused on their own lives and the situations with which they come in contact rather than discovering remote places. Far from both documentary photography’s claim to neutrality and the constructedness of staged photography, the works in the exhibition tracedpersonal narratives in an open sphere; like a minutely kept diary, the artists’ lives, close circles, and memories were materialized in photography. Opening the doors to different interpretations, the images use the power of ambiguity rather than an authoritative voice that dictates meaning. Among the details of everyday life emerges the charm of the ordinary and these images, which seem familiar, find new shape in other people’s stories.

Artists: Özgür Atlagan, Fatma Belkıs, Dilan Bozyel, Yusuf Darıyerli, Cemil Batur Gökçeer, Ege Kanar, Korhan Karaoysal, Metehan Özcan, Civan Özkanoğlu, Emir Özşahin, Muhitin Eren Sulamacı, Özlem Şimşek, Sinan Tuncay, Gözde Türkkan, Devin Yalkın, Begüm Yamanlar, Sarp Kerem Yavuz, Cemre Yeşil

Head of Photography Department: Sena Çakırkaya

Photography Advisory Board: Merih Akoğul, Orhan Cem Çetin, Murat Germen, Sıtkı Kösemen