Gökhan Tanriöver

Signed limited edition silver gelatin prints

Edition of 5

Ed. 1-2 – £500
Ed. 3-4 – £650
Ed. 5 –     £800

 

To enquire email

jennie.anderson@argenteagallery.com

or call +44 (0)121 236 5444

 

Comprising a series of black and white still life photographs, Confessionals is based on specific childhood experiences. Guided by Annette Kuhn’s process of ‘memory work’, a method and practice of unearthing and making public untold stories, Tanriöver’s personal memories are made tangible through the photograph. Each experience is first presented as a written confession from which an image is then constructed and the combination of image and text weaves a poignant autobiographical narrative.

This singularity of intent about the work, the public exposure of private experiences, is shown through the use of black and white. By removing the potential distraction of colour, Tanriöver has created images that are the embodiment of contrary forces. Black, being visually heavy and associated with power, authority and evil, is starkly contrasted with white, a colour that projects purity and salvation and is synonymous with new beginnings. Working with analogue, the studio and the darkroom are the physical space where Tanriöver’s meditative state acts as a form of auto-therapy. This process has allowed him to produce images where these opposing forces of black and white don’t compete, but rather complement each other to communicate more effectively ideas of opposition and comparison, association and acceptance.

By offering his own emotional and psychological life as art, Tanriöver invites the viewer to share in his meditations on sorrow and remembrance.

 

Gökhan Tanriöver is a Turkish-born photographic artist living in London. Following a brief medical career, he realised his vocation lay in visual culture. Drawing on his training as a junior psychiatrist his work consists of constructed imagery that focuses on personal and cultural identity informed by personal experience and memory. After completing his BA (Hons) Photographic Art (2017) from the University of Westminster he is now undertaking an MA at the Royal College of Art, London.  His work is held in both private and corporate collections.

Biography