Nuri Bilge Ceylan: In Another Place

“In Another Place” presents never-before-seen portraits by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of the most authentic filmmakers of today’s cinema. The exhibition brings together works that are unlike what the artist has created thus far: 22 portraits taken by Ceylan in Turkey and geographies around the world as diverse as India, Georgia, China, Morocco and Russia.

Among the qualities that the portraits share are the relationships the characters establish with the built environment and natural landscapes, carefully constructed photographic atmospheres, the use of dramatic light, the dialogue between different colors, understated emotions, and calm facial expressions. Ceylan’s portraits point to the depth of human experiences that bind us together, while simultaneously bringing to mind that our lives cannot be separated from geography. The reference to “another place” in the exhibition title and series not only evokes the many countries to which Ceylan has traveled, it also refers to the characters of his cinema, who desire to be “somewhere other” than where they are.

Revealing the daily struggles, loneliness, boredom and melancholy of people around the world through his subjects, who gaze directly at the photographer and therefore also at us, Ceylan focuses on the common emotions across geographies rather than the differences. The unique formal language in all of Ceylan’s photographs activate our imagination and make us feel connected to people and geographies that we have never been to or experienced.

Curator: Demet Yıldız Dinçer

Assistant Curator: Dilara Ulu


Mud Boys, India, 2011
150 x 178 cm
Archival pigment print