Mahzen Photos has been founded by the photographers who have gathered together with the idea of joint generation and solidarity and of communizing their generations in documentary photograph area in 2013. In terms of bearing a witness to time and developing social awareness, it is a collective photography creation making production in documentary sector in contemplation of the thought that photograph has an important power. “Consumption” that is one of the major problems in today’s world, evokes itself in the photographs as a projection. With each passing day, increasing number of people taking photos has enabled the photograph, which is accepted as an elitist field, to expand to the bottom. As a result of breaking of monopoly in the field and easy accessibility to the photograph, it has started to be consumed more rapidly in social media which has become a visual dump. In such a world where the individual has become more passive against speed of social life day by day, and has filled their heads with images offered the system and the looking has turned the only way of seeing, it is felt the need of understanding, perceiving and explaining the apparent with whole reality. Considering this need; photographers of Mahzen Photos assess their collective evolution as “in a system where perception of reality is produced by dominant classes and its essential meaning has been transformed to the null for social lower classes; concordantly, it is a practice to understand and describe the life and social life by witnessing independent reality without establishing relationship with concepts of ‘artist, status, label’ in a photograph medium established upon making the life esthetic”. They act with opinion of being always ready to work with new photographers, whom they could produce the work and act together, and expanding the collective circle rather than being a closed group from today to tomorrow.
Photographers:
1-Sinan KILIÇ
In his university years; he recognized photograph with social documentary extent. Together with Serkan ÇOLAK from Mahzen Photos collective which he is the founder, he prepared three photointerview works named “Kadifekale and Urban Transformation”, “REŞ” and Aquadis”. He had participated in various international and national photograph festivals with his photographs. He continues his photography works in contemplation of the thought that photograph has an important power in terms of bear a witness to time and development of social awareness.
2- Erdem VAROL
Erdem VAROL, born in 1988 in Istanbul, has discovered photography again as a phraseology via the books of John BERGER in his university years. Considering that prioritized purpose of social documentary photograph is understanding, he has been producing collective social documentary projects and street photographs since 2011.
3-Serkan ÇOLAK
He has producing photographs since 2004. He had participated in numerous national and international arenas and won awards. He perceived photograph as being a witness to the time passed and as a phraseology. At first, while this perception was mostly an intrinsic attitude, it started to have a social and documentary meaning in time. Since 2010, he prepared three projects together with Sinan Kılıç that are named “Kadifekale and Urban Transformation”, “REŞ” and “Aquadis”. He still continues his individual and collective works.
4-Onur KORKMAZ
Onur Korkmaz, born on September 1988 in Istanbul, studied journalism between 2005 and 2010. In his photography adventure to which he had started with an amateur spirit in 2006, he found an opportunity to participate in various group and personal photograph exhibitions. In 2013, he founded Mahzen Photos together with his friends who gathered together by the idea of commonize their productions in documentary photography and of joint production and solidarity. He realized his work called as “Exhaustion with Dreams”, which has a very different structure from the photograph language he has continued, by being inspired from Précis de Décomposition leaving a considerable impression over him during his student years and denominating the project in the following years. Nowadays, in terms of bearing a witness to time and developing social awareness, in contemplation of the thought that photograph has an important power, he continues his photograph works under the Mahzen Photos collective that makes production in documentary.
5-Onur GÖKKUŞ
Onur Gökkuş, born in 1982 in Zara district of Sivas, firstly met art among the Visual Arts due to his artist father. In this area, he especially made studies on perspective and reflections and won various awards. He took his first photographs with a photographing film-machine that he bought in 2002 and then photograph became a passion for him. After working as a Photo journalist at Fenerbahçe Sports Club, he gave photography trainings at some Culture and Art Centers. Finally he participated in the group exhibition named “Free Gezi” that consists of the photographs of Gezi Park. In 2013; together with his friends, they founded Mahzen Photos Collective. He still continues his photograph works in Istanbul.
6-Sevra Nihal ÜNAL
She was born in Istanbul in 1982. She has taken place at various art centers since 2009. In 2011; she entered to Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Photograph. She participated in Unifotofest photograph festival of which the first one was arranged in 2012. Her photographs were exhibited in 2012 at the 2nd Bursa Photography Festival by the organization of Young Photograph Initiative. In 2013; she started to work under the same roof of Kaos GL with her action and miting photographs that are up to date. She continues to produce photographs by participating in Mahzen Photos collective with her projects in 2014.
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