About Artist
For Kamil Fırat one of the most elite of the Turkish art of Photography, the way to identify, conceive, see and understand the world and to say something about it, is by means of photography. The Artist, whose art as photographs and prints take place in numerous international museums and private collections, overlooks the times we live in from a metaphoric perspective, with his series.
He has been working on photography and art theories since 1980. He teaches Art Theories, Aesthetics, Visual Communication, Photography Phenomenology and Documentary Photography at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. He opened exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. His works are in numerous museums and private collections. He is one of the founders of Adatepe Taş Mektep (Çanakkale). He is the curator of Bursa International Photography Festival from 2015.
THE HORSES & CITIES
The Horses & Cities Exhibit, as the result of more than fifteen years of work, is comprised of a narrative and photographs of cities established by various civilizations in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions, as depicted through the testaments of horse symbols belonging to those cities, and can be viewed throughout the length of the exhibit.
Kamil Fırat, who followed traces of “Horse” images belonging to cities of civilizations from the Aegean and Mediterranean, successfully tells the stories of those cities, piecing together parts disconnected from one another, some of which are in museums, some stolen and stored in dark tunnels, in a comprehensive photo-narrative.
Kamil Fırat, who indicates that working on the “Horse”, which is common ground for all of the civilizations which have reigned in this region, is actually engaging in deliberation about the journey of civilization, and describes his approach in the following way: “The greatest witness of civilizations created by humans is also the “horse”.
Life has given it the task of “witnessing” what humans do. Sometimes as a huge and sometimes as a small statue of marble; sometimes as a terracotta figurine; sometimes as the relief on the surface of a sarcophagus; sometimes as the depiction on a façade, surrounding all sides of a temple; sometimes on currency; sometimes on an oil lamp; sometimes on a fresco; sometimes on a picture painted on a vase, and sometimes; as a genuine skull, horses have witnessed cities and people. Horses, which have served as witness to the human adventure of thousands of years, have been transformed by people into “works of art” carried through to today.”
Kamil Fırat believes that in the face of this “mass of civilization” which is Anatolia, each person who is awe-struck and influenced by it has much to benefit from it…In order to avoid being a partner in the effort to destroy this wealth, each person should do their share, should make an effort to do their share. He adds, “Those cities; a collection of places where belonging was felt passionately, and the most beautiful part; despite thousands of years having passed, the clues of that which amassed in the name of humanity, preserves its enchantment for “those who see, if they so desire,” in these cities which have been abandoned “unto themselves”. Even the slightest vestiges from those days contain knowledge within, but more importantly, convey the emotion of that day, to the current day…”
