Istanbul... one of the world s oldest cities.. capital city of Rome,Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman Empires, a city that has brought cultures and civilizations together in a crucible. Some cities, strangely enough, shape and lead the culture, art and literature of a land. Istanbul is one of them… A city with a Bosphorus, its history, streets, people, discrepancies, contradictions, and lieu’s full of secrets, which has always been the muse of poetry, prose, and the arts…
Inevitably this city has a soul that charms and enslaves one to itself. Recounting itself through the pages, seeping into poetry, stories, novels, films. And ofcourse its unforgettable effect on the visual arts: especially the Istanbul images… since there is not that many city which harbours such riches and tenders lives and cultures so diverse simultaneously. Thus Istanbul ascends to being to apple of the photographer s eye.
Now is the time to peruse Istanbul from a young photographers point of view… Of İlker Gürer s lens, his glance…
Ilker Gurer who has met with photography in 2004, has succeeded in capturing the essence of Istanbul in this study. Masterfully depicting Istanbul s thounsand and one facets and psyche to the viewer. Streets, ferries, people, rough cobblestones… His photography covering every corner of the city actually reveals how much Gürer attributes importance to a distinct perspective as well as to detail. Reflections are utilized freely. Viewers can pick up a totally different image over another one. As two different worlds in a single frame…
Gürer has decided to document Istanbul in color, freeze it in photographic frames. But color never overrides the subject in any of them. Color is not the attraction here. The essence is effect… Objects, subjects, people, each are placed appropriately in Gürer s photography. And they need to be there. None of them are surplus, each one has a distinct function, a basis of existence. Gürer, isn’t bombarding, suffocating, boring the spectator with images. Daily life of Istanbul is conveyed as devoid of exorbitance. Nay, opening quite different doors as well…
Text:Yasemin BAY 2008
Inevitably this city has a soul that charms and enslaves one to itself. Recounting itself through the pages, seeping into poetry, stories, novels, films. And ofcourse its unforgettable effect on the visual arts: especially the Istanbul images… since there is not that many city which harbours such riches and tenders lives and cultures so diverse simultaneously. Thus Istanbul ascends to being to apple of the photographer s eye.
Now is the time to peruse Istanbul from a young photographers point of view… Of İlker Gürer s lens, his glance…
Ilker Gurer who has met with photography in 2004, has succeeded in capturing the essence of Istanbul in this study. Masterfully depicting Istanbul s thounsand and one facets and psyche to the viewer. Streets, ferries, people, rough cobblestones… His photography covering every corner of the city actually reveals how much Gürer attributes importance to a distinct perspective as well as to detail. Reflections are utilized freely. Viewers can pick up a totally different image over another one. As two different worlds in a single frame…
Gürer has decided to document Istanbul in color, freeze it in photographic frames. But color never overrides the subject in any of them. Color is not the attraction here. The essence is effect… Objects, subjects, people, each are placed appropriately in Gürer s photography. And they need to be there. None of them are surplus, each one has a distinct function, a basis of existence. Gürer, isn’t bombarding, suffocating, boring the spectator with images. Daily life of Istanbul is conveyed as devoid of exorbitance. Nay, opening quite different doors as well…
Text:Yasemin BAY 2008
walls.
