Inside / Outside

INSIDE / OUTSIDE: an installation

Point of view, or perspective, is not a representation of a subject. It has its own field of interpretation. So the meaning of an image should not be based on appearance alone, rather it is the individual’s experience that makes a difference and establishes meaning.

This body of work is taken with a pinhole camera in Turkey. My mother, sister, relatives and neighbors posed for me in front of doors, windows or curtains. These barriers act as a metaphorical symbol to show the physical and emotional spaces between the human beings. Cultural, emotional and geographical differences can be an open door or act like a barrier. JUST LIKE A CURTAIN... A curtain both reveals and conceals, it can keep you out or in. You need to be willing to go through barriers to be able to better understand things that are on the other side. The work invites the viewers to imagine themselves to be in the same places as a third person by exploring a different point of view through my photographs. Pinhole photography shows a surface of reality from another dimension. It is important for me not to manipulate my images. By its very nature of pinhole, with long exposures, creates an image that is not of a subject captured in an instant of time but the passing of time in a single image.

Projected multiple pinhole images onto sheer curtains suspended floor to ceiling. Audio tracks in both English and Turkish play simultaneously as the images flicker and change, seeming to move from curtain to curtain. The observer becomes a voyeur, exploring a new space, deciphering images as new or old, past or present, here or there, and the voices add to the sense of disconcertion. The sights and sounds are used as metaphors – the curtains symbolize east and west, or inside and outside; the voices represent fragments of memory, and moments both conscious and unconscious; the pinhole photography illustrates the unpredictability of our minds. The objective is to bring attention to the nature of transitory living experiences by setting up an imaginary or virtual window.