Turkish photographic pioneer honored at Istanbul Modern

The most comprehensive exhibition of photographer Şahin Kaygun, is on display at Istanbul Modern. The show features the original prints of Kaygun's works The Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery is presenting a retrospective on the oeuvre of Şahin Kaygun, the premier Turkish pioneer of an interdisciplinary approach to the photographic arts.

The self-titled exhibition "Şahin Kaygun" extends from the artist's experimental photographic Polaroid works to his cinematic productions, as well as to his late works in which he ultimately exceeded the boundary between photography and painting. Curated by Sena Çakırkaya, the exhibition includes 89 works produced by Kaygun from 1978 to 1991 and traces the technical and conceptual transformation of the artist's working practices and photography series.

Şahin Kaygun

Kaygun implemented a new approach to photographic techniques throughout his career. He brought together different disciplines such as painting, graphic arts and cinema in the 1980s, a time when the concept of interdisciplinary studies was yet to take its place in Turkey's agenda.

Kaygun, who died in 1992 at the age of 41, researched the possibilities of the expression of a new and distinct language of art through meticulous working practices. He challenged the boundaries between different techniques through a contemporary interpretation, his protean, pioneering and creative identity, as well as his incessant concern for surpassing his abilities.

In Kaygun's oeuvre, collages, various symbols, fantastic constructs and a search for surreal spaces were accommodated in an expressionist attitude and a diligent graphic disposition. In works in which he probed the theme of life and death, Kaygun...