An imagined conversation

2016

“An imagined conversation” was inspired from the life of Altan Gürman who was an important artist and a figure in the 60’s 70’s conceptual art scene in Turkey.

This photography project was published as the 27th edition of Fragmentations Project that takes place inside the historical art magazine called ‘Sanat Dünyamız”.

The Curator Necmi Sönmez invites an artist to each issue and offers a 14 page long space to exhibit a project of artist’s choice. In addition to the magazine, each project gets produced as independent booklets in a small number of editions to be archived in Yapı Kredi Publishing and as an issue of the Fragmentation Project.

The imagined conversation was inspired from the life of Altan Gürman who was an important artist and a figure in the 60’s 70’s conceptual art scene in Turkey. When I had the chance to work with his wife Bilge Gürman in the archievement of his life and works, we have developed a close relation.

This friendship brought me to their house on an island in the Aegean sea, Bozcaada where I’ve spent 2 months in seclusion, away from the never ending chaos of Istanbul.

The project presents a dialogue between Gürman and me through photographs from the archive and the images I have photographed during my stay on the island. A short verbal conversation between two characters that never had the chance to meet in real life is present as an homage to Gürman and to fellow artists of his time.

The monochrome brown photographs were exposed on paper with Van Dyke photo process in UV light.