ART
Ara Güler |
Written 30 January |
Wednesday 16 September, 11:00Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 75004 [map]Ara Güler
Ara Güler is one of the best reporters and photographic witnesses of his time. Nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul", Güler started to study photography at the end of the 1940s without really imagining that he would make a career from it: “What had been fun for me at the beginning began to give me the most satisfaction in my life: discovering a language, a means of expression… and the certitude of being able to express yourself in this way. The confidence came back to me with the hope of having found my path perhaps by this field...” (1) La revue Camera, 1962.
In 1948, at the age of twenty, he collaborated as a journalist on the daily Yeni Istanbul, then as a photographer on the magazine Hayat. At the start of the 50s Turkey, along with the rest of the Mediterranean, entered into a phase of profound transition. Ara Güler photographed Istanbul, Turkey, Anatolia, archaeological sites, the ruins of Aphrodisias, and the villages. He belongs to the generation of Turkish photographers who have played a key role in the recognition of their country abroad.
If the work of Ara Güler is inscribed in the great humanist tradition, his poetic realism bestows him a particular force and singularity. His images are not only a historic documentation of Istanbul; his images of the town are filled with melancholy and his portraits, with surprising presence, force him into the realms of a major figure of photography of the last century. Today he devotes himself to transmitting the message of his lost Istanbul through books and exhibitions. Since the Ara Café (a café installed on the ground floor of his house where he grew up) he watches the world around him and receives many visitors, continuing to enjoy his notoriety.
| What: | Ara Güler |
| When: | Wednesday 16 September, 11:00 |
| Where: | Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 5/7 rue de Fourcy 75004 [map] |
| Transport: | Saint Paul / Pont Marie |
| Cost: | 3,50-6,50EUR |
| Phone: | 01 44 78 75 00 |
| Email: | skulczewski@mep-fr.org |
| Web: | www.mep-fr.org |
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