KUTLUG ATAMAN and ZINEB SEDIRA
1+1=1, Mother tongue
As part of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal
A native of Turkey, Kutlug Ataman lives and works in Istanbul. His work deals with marginalized individuals, examining the ways in which people create and rewrite their identities, blurring the line between reality and fiction. His work has been presented in various festivals, institutions and biennials such as Documenta (2002), the Venice (1999), São Paulo (2002), Berlin (2001) and Istanbul (1997, 2003, 2007) Biennales and the Tate Triennial (2003). His works are part of important private and public international collections. In 2004 he received the Carnegie Award.
Zineb Sedira was born in 1963 in Paris. She lives and works in London. Her work imbued with her Algerian, French and British identities. Through her use of video and photography, she focuses on identity, culture, memory and language. The themes of nomadism, migration, and the notion of homeland spread well beyond the historical and contemporary relationship between France and Algeria. Her work has been presented in various institutions et biennales such as the Venice Biennale (2001), Tate Britain (London, 2002) and the Centre Georges- Pompidou (Paris, 2004).
—Opening Friday, September 11, 2009 AT 6 PM
The 11th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, The Spaces of the Image, curated by Gaëlle More, explores the questions of mechanisms and staging, perceived as essential keys to reading the different photographic projects presented in recent years. Galerie B-312 is pleased to be partnering with this 11th edition and to present two videographic installations: 1+1=1 by Kutlug Ataman and Mother Tongue by Zineb Sedira.
Kutlug Ataman’s 1+1=1 (2002) uses the interview format to recount the story of Nese Yasin, who was condemned to flee the community conflicts that have divided the north and south parts of the island of Cyprus. The narrative becomes a long monologue in which the woman seems to be alone with herself. Split between two adjacent screens, the portrait reveals Yasin’s quest for identity through the partition of Cyprus. In creating a mirror video image, Ataman experiments with an innovative device to transfigure the intimate narrative and documentary issues associated with testimony.
Zineb Sedira’s video triptych Mother Tongue (2002) attests to the cultural transitions experienced by the artist in her peregrinations between Algeria, France, and England. The piece’s three sequences evoke stories exchanged by the artist, her daughter, and her mother. In the absence of a common language, dialogue becomes impossible and the lines of communication between the generations wear thin. Intimately bound up with the story of her life, Sedira’s work reveals the complexity and mutual comprehension of geographical and cultural distances.
—Summary of a text by JEAN-ÉMILE VERDIER
A native of Turkey, Kutlug Ataman lives and works in Istanbul. His work deals with marginalized individuals, examining the ways in which people create and rewrite their identities, blurring the line between reality and fiction. His work has been presented in various festivals, institutions and biennials such as Documenta (2002), the Venice (1999), São Paulo (2002), Berlin (2001) and Istanbul (1997, 2003, 2007) Biennales and the Tate Triennial (2003). His works are part of important private and public international collections. In 2004 he received the Carnegie Award.
Zineb Sedira was born in 1963 in Paris. She lives and works in London. Her work imbued with her Algerian, French and British identities. Through her use of video and photography, she focuses on identity, culture, memory and language. The themes of nomadism, migration, and the notion of homeland spread well beyond the historical and contemporary relationship between France and Algeria. Her work has been presented in various institutions et biennales such as the Venice Biennale (2001), Tate Britain (London, 2002) and the Centre Georges- Pompidou (Paris, 2004).