Turkey Photographs on Display at SoHo Photo

From May 3 to June 2, 2007, five photographers will exhibit their work at SoHo Photo gallery in New York, home of the Krappy Kamera and National Photography competitions. The history, culture, and people of Turkey—all three of which can become intertwined in the photograph—will be a shared subject.

Atila Durak's series "Ebru: Reflections of Cultural Diversity in Turkey" takes a multi-tiered approach to its subject with portraits of the Turkish people in their everyday environments, and draws a metaphorical comparison to the traditional art form of Ebru. Atila Durak has exhibited at venues including the Imperial Mint of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, his city of main operations. You can view the artist's website here.

From the artist's statement on SoHo Photo's website:

“Ebru,” which means “marbled paper” in Turkish, refers to the effects of an artistic process marked by the fluidity of paint and water on paper. An “ebru” metaphorically offers a promising alternative to such terms as “mosaic” or “quilt” for contemplating the dilemmas of cultural politics, past and present.

Four SoHo Photo members will also be exhibiting, and three have also chosen Turkey as material and inspiration. These include "Sic Transit Gloria," a photographic exhibit of Greek and Roman ruins by John Lebold Cohen. The name of the exhibit means "glory is fleeting," and reminds us that while classical legacies endure in their places of origin, places like Turkey tend to move on. Gisa Indenbaum's exhibit "Kula, Turkey" is a series of 16 photographs documenting the photographer's encounters with the people of this old town. In "Glimpses of Istanbul," Robert Lobe examines with long shots and detailed close-ups the many faces and eras of Turkey, from the Byzantines, to the Ottomans, to modern life.

John Custodio will also exhibit his images, not of Turkey, but of Las Vegas, Nevada, the modern-day Babylon. The difficulty in capturing exciting landscapes of Sin City isn't helped by its sheer amount of activity (and excess), or its familiar postcard images. Custodio has found a solution in the infrared image, in which everything has a static, almost eery glow. The contrast of subject and style of photography makes quite a statement, one that SoHo Photo has no qualms about.