08 May - 14 Jun 2014
The Empire Project Gallery presents The Closest Possibility, the first solo exhibition in Istanbul by Cemil Batur Gökçeer. Nominated for both the Paul Huf Award of Amsterdam Photography Museum Foam and selected as one of the most important emerging photographs by the British Journal of Photography in 2014, Gökçeer makes his individual Istanbul debut a variety of works from the last 3 years - a result of intensive experimentation between technique, medium and format.
The Empire Project Gallery presents The Closest Possibility, the first solo exhibition in Istanbul by Cemil Batur Gökçeer. Nominated for both the Paul Huf Award of Amsterdam Photography Museum Foam and selected as one of the most important emerging photographs by the British Journal of Photography in 2014, Gökçeer makes his individual Istanbul debut a variety of works from the last 3 years - a result of intensive experimentation between technique, medium and format.
Gokçeer says of the images in The Closest Possibility, "I have been searching for a new semantic connection emerging from my interaction with certain moments and spaces. Therefore I have developed these photographs with interventions triggered by the thoughts or emotions connected to the moment they were shot. Every time I was shooting, the action of taking pictures transformed into an inevitable quest - with the assumption of completeness it embodies - to overcome the alienation the photograph caused and thus be able to desire the photographic image once again. When the image gave a hint of a new existence, intertwining with this new stratum developing on the surface, then it was alive for me."
Born in Ankara in 1981, Cemil Batur Gökçeer, has participated in programs and workshops such as Borderlines Project hosted by ISSP and Reflections Masterclass, with a grant from Turkish Cultural Foundation. In 2012 he was selected to take part in Joop Swart Masterclass of World Press Photo. Batur is one of the founders of Torun, and independent art space in Ankara where he had his first solo show Tangle in 2012.His works, exhibited in several prominent group exhibitions including The Istanbul Modern Museum, have appeared in international as well as local publication platforms.
