Photography series “TrabZONE”
C-print, 2010
Photo series takes us on a journey to the artist’s childhood - one particular city in the Black Sea region - Trabzon, notorious for its fanatic attachment to religious and national values. Nilbar Güreş always looks for the hidden and the uncanny taking place behind the protection of traditional structures. Trabzon is a place with many paradoxes; strongly attached to a Turkish Muslim identity, it is also one of the historic centers of Pontus (during Hellenic and Roman times) whose inhabitants are known as the very first converts to Christianity. The social visibility of women is very poor, similar to many Anatolian cities, women may not appear in public spaces unless they are accompanied by their fathers, brothers, male cousins, fiancées or husbands. Yet the lives of men and women are quite separate; while men work or gamble with their pals in coffeehouses, women carry the whole load of household and family.
Artist's Bio:
Nilbar Güreş (Istanbul, 1977) received BA degree in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Marmara University, İstanbul, and then completed her MA degree in Painting & Graphics from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.