80 years of photos at Istanbul Modern

A selection of the Istanbul Modern Photography Collection, which has been further enriched by newly acquired photographs, is presented in the exhibition “People Attract People.”

Othmar Pferschy was one of the leading exponents of documentary photography in the Republican era who introduced the developing and revitalized face of a young Turkey to the world. 

Featuring photographs of people taken from the time of Pferschy to the present, the exhibition will be on display until Dec. 18. 

Curated by photographic artist Merih Akoğul from the Istanbul Modern Photography Advisory Board, the exhibition offers art lovers the opportunity to explore human portraits while following the techniques, interpretations and socioeconomic conditions that developed and changed over the course of 80 years. 

The exhibition covers a wide spectrum of photographers and their unique perspectives, from impressionism and expressionism to the documentary and the artistic, and from the Anatolian backdrop to contemporary portraits produced using the more advanced techniques of studio photography. 

“People Attract People” also presents to viewers a summary of the general feeling imparted by photographs with people in them.

Also reflecting the history of photography in Turkey, some of the photographs in the exhibition are striking images developed from the recording of moments in back streets while others are photographs taken on the basis of an idea. 

A unity is formed by juxtaposing photographs of people produced in different contexts, taken either in the studio or outdoors, from diverse perspectives and using different methods. Whether Anatolian towns or big cities, vast landscapes or studios of a few square meters, even though the backgrounds differ, they all reflect the photographer’s relationship with people and life.