Interdisciplinary photo exhibition at Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern is preparing the most comprehensive posthumous exhibition honoring Turkish photographer Şahin Kaygun who passed away in 1992



Kaygun combined different fields of photo art such as painting, graphics and cinema in the 1980s, even before interdisciplinary studies became common in Turkey. He pushed the limits of photography techniques and introduced new and interesting works by harmonizing different art fields in a modern way. Following comprehensive research on his archive, the exhibition will present a wide spectrum of Kaygun's works from his experimental interventions on photos to Turkey's first Polaroid photos with his signature. Aside from his search for new photography techniques by adding different layers to his photos, he followed the traces of a narration set between dream and reality, somewhere on the borders of consciousness, through the themes of life and death. The exhibition will allow visitors to examine the reflection of the depression and introversion experienced under the 1980s' political atmosphere on art. His photos mirror the mental state of people who lived in those years from a personal perspective. Kaygun started his career with paintings when he was a high school student. In 1969, he began studying graphics at the State Applied Fine Arts University, now the Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts. He showed great interest in photography during his university years and considered graphics and photography as two complementary fields. Some of the photos from his Polaroid collection, which features his first photographic interventions, were added to the International Polaroid Collection and introduced at prestigious museums and art centers. Kaygun was known for saying, "I do not take photos, but make them." Each frame was a stage that he shaped in his mind. He used to imagine a composition and then take the photo. He deleted the unnecessary details on his photos by coloring, scratching or drawing and added what he wanted. Kaygun was interested in creating collages and coloring them with acrylic enamel. As a final stage, he used to reflect on his own internal word through photos. His works are always the center of heated discussions as to whether they are paintings or photos, but Kaygun's objective was to create an interdisciplinary art language regardless.