#ali taptik

[theangrybat]

Ali Taptik - Nothing surprising

author: http://www.alitaptik.com/

publisher: http://marraineginette.com/

ISBN: 978- 2-9537195-1-2

video: https://vimeo.com/196436327

[positive-magazine]

The Havana 7 club fellowship: interview with Ali Taptik

The Havana 7 club fellowship: interview with Ali Taptik

[dropcap type=”1″]F[/dropcap]inally the winner of this first edition has been revealed and we had a chance to get an interview with Ali Taptik.

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Ali Taptik is an artist, photographer and PhD Candidate in Architectural Design at ITU from Turkey.  Taptık has published several books including Kaza ve Kader (Filigranes Editions, 2009); Depicting Istanbul(Akin Nalca, 2010) and Ther…

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[theinnocentcuriosity]

Ali Taptik: Nothing Surprising (review)

I had known Ali Taptik’s works before, so it was with increased curiosity that I reached for his new book. Nothing Surprising is a story about crisis. Tapik’s friends lost their work and could not afford a flat. However, the artist, who is based in Istanbul, is not only interested in economic crises, but also in the difficult socio-political situation in Turkey.

The symbolic images tell a story about a city falling apart. The landscapes and still lifes are accompanied by intimate portraits of the photographer’s friends and pictures of strangers. All of them seem to be living in a state of limbo. The color square pictures act strongly on an emotional level. They evoke anxiety, showing a city torn apart.

Some of the pages are joint with each other. Cutting the double pages apart, you acquire access to new images, which form yet another layer of narration. The images include, for example, newspaper clips depicting protests. This makes the book as a whole appear to be a kind of intervention. Yet, what is most valuable about it goes far beyond the current political situation in Turkey, even though it may be directly related to it.

Once in a while, the motif of red color returns in the rather cool, toned down photographs. You associate red with blood, a wound. What Taptik succeeds in showing the city in a state of ‘bleeding.’ However, the blood is not spilled by people, but rather stands for the damage done to the city. I believe the word ‘crack’ would be most suitable to describe what I see in Tapik’s photographs – the suffering of a constantly-reshaped city and its residents.

Rating: Very Good (5/6)

Video presentation

Ali Taptik: Nothing Surprising, softcover, 20 x 24,5 cm, 136 pages, Marraine Ginette / ONAGORE 2015

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Prace Ali Taptika znałem już wcześniej. Z tym większą ciekawością sięgnąłem po jego nową książkę. „Nothing Surprising” opowiada o kryzysie. Przyjaciele Taptika stracili pracę i nie stać ich było na mieszkania. Mieszkającemu w Stambule fotografowi chodzi jednak nie tylko o kryzys ekonomiczny, ale również o trudną sytuacją polityczno-społeczną panującą w Turcji.

Symboliczne obrazy opowiadają o rozpadającym się mieście. Krajobrazy oraz martwe natury uzupełnione są przez intymne portrety przyjaciół fotografa oraz zdjęcia nieznajomych ludzi. Wszyscy zdają się tkwić w dramatycznym zawieszeniu. Kolorowe kwadratowe fotografie działają mocno na emocjonalnej płaszczyźnie. Wzbudzają niepokój, pokazując miasto tkwiące w rozdarciu.

Część stron w książce połączona jest ze sobą. Rozcinając podwójne strony zyskujemy dostęp do nowych obrazów, które tworzą kolejną warstwę narracyjną. Znalazły się wśród nich wycinki z gazet przedstawiające m.in. protesty. Nadają one całości interwencyjnego charakteru. Mimo tego, to co najcenniejsze, moim zdaniem, w tej książce wychodzi daleko poza obecną sytuację polityczną, chociaż być może nią zostało wywołane.

Na utrzymanych raczej w chłodnych tonach fotografiach powraca co jakiś czas czerwień. To barwa, która kojarzy się z krwią, raną. Taptikowi udaje się pokazać stan, w którym miasto „krwawi”. Nie chodzi tu dosłownie o krew przelaną przez ludzi, ale o szkody wyrządzane organizmowi miejskiemu. „Pęknięcie” to słowo, które moim zdaniem dobrze oddaje to co dostrzegam na fotografiach Taptika. Cierpienie będące udziałem nieustannie przebudowywanego miasta oraz jego mieszkańców.

Ocena: Bardzo Dobra (5/6)

Prezentacja wideo

Ali Taptik: Nothing Surprising, miękka oprawa, 20 x 24,5 cm, 136 stron, Marraine Ginette / ONAGORE 2015

[theinnocentcuriosity]

Ali Taptik: Nothing Surprising (video)

[andthewinnersare]

Ali Taptik, Nothing Surprising

Marainne Ginette Éditions

1 mention

Lensculture, Kim Knoppers

[openeyegallery]

Out of the Archive: Edith Tudor-Hart

During the 1930’s Edith Tudor-Hart lived in South Wales, following her husband’s appointment as a GP in the region. As communists the couple would have sympathised with the economic hardship of the miners in the Rhondda valley.

During the industrial depression following the First World War, unemployment figures in the area soared. With the help of other unions, the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement organised Hunger Marches, which demanded more fair unemployment legislation.

These photographs were taken in February 1935 during one such demonstration, with Edith Tudor-Hart perched on a post opposite the crowd.

Mid Rhondda Working Women’s Guild demonstration, Wales 1935 © Edith Tudor-Hart

The huge demonstrations in 1935 were sparked by the governments intention to cut unemployment benefits by 8%. The ‘Against the Slave Act’ banners refer to this policy.

Dramatically, on 5th February 1935, the day after the eruption in South Wales, the government announced that implementation of the measures would be put off for a year and a half and much modified. 

Mid Rhondda Working Women’s Guild demonstration, Wales 1935 © Edith Tudor-Hart

These photographs, amongst many more, are currently on display at Kirkby Gallery, The Kirkby Centre, Norwich Way, Knowsley, L32 8XY

John Davies is an internationally renowned photographer based in Liverpool. He has selected 70 prints from Open Eye Gallery’s extensive collection of over 16,000 photographs for Out of the Archive.

The exhibition celebrates the work of Vanley Burke, Philippe Conti, John Edwards, Sean Halligan, Burt Hardy, Edith Tudor Hart, Martin Parr, Chris Steele-Perkins, David Reid, Michelle Sank, John Stoddart, Ali Taptik and Tom Wood.

Together, the selected photographers illustrate a personal and collective expression of our local and national culture from the 1930s to the present day.

More information HERE.

Out of the Archive: Edith Tudor-Hart was originally published on Open Eye Gallery

[ghost-publisher]

Souvenir from Turkey, by Ali Taptik

"'Over-painting' has become a very common practice for censoring anti-government slogans written on the street. A dull grey-card color of discontent has been dominant after the Gezi Park and Taqsim Square protests in 2013. Red-on-red is not a combination that is easy to find. Although many might think this picture comes from the Gezi resistance or maybe the present Kobane Riots, it is actually from 2009, probably after protests against IMF. This practice proves that a kind of hypocrite, fascistic, suppressive character is deeply rooted in the Turkish past. Long after Gezi protests, as I amend this text in the morning of 8th October 2014 - just after a hefty night of protests and riots - municipality workers of Istanbul are covering up the voice of the streets again. And 14 families are covering the bodies of their beloved ones. They are asking for help to their brothers and sisters in a world indifferent to the siege of a brave city, Kobane.*"

*Kobane is a Syrian city at the border of Turkey, mainly inhabited by Kurdish people. It is presently (October 2014) under the attacks of the army of the so-called ‘Islamic State’.

"Souvenir from Turkey" is part of the project "Souvenirs from Europe", a série of posters made by artists (photographers, designers, visual artists) who are presently living and working in Europe. They were invited to choose/create an “object of protest” (as there were “protest songs” in the 1970’s), ie a political souvenir of our times. The final result takes the shape of a portable exhibition (easily transportable in postal tubes) that is proposed to art spaces, galleries, theatres, bookshops in Europe.

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT: www.ghost.pt

ABOUT ALI TAPTIK WORK: www.alitaptik.com/

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Ali Taptik