Kemal Vural Tarlan is a researcher and documentary photographer based in Gaziantep, Turkey. He is the General Coordinator of Kırkayak Cultural Center and Director of the Middle East Cultural and Social Research Center in Gaziantep. In 2013-2014 he conducted a project composed of photographs, video, audio and physical objects titled “Syria in Transit”, which followed Syrian refugees’ journeys from Turkey to various European countries. This project has been displayed in Gaziantep, London, Berlin, Kiel, Madrid and Istanbul.
Left overs // 2012 – (ongoing), on display as part of THEMUSEUM’s annual Refugee Art Show in support of Waterloo Region’s World Refugee Day, presents a selection of Kemal Vural Tarlan’s photographs, which document the people, things, and spaces along Turkey’s border with Syria, as well as Jordan, Lebanon, and France, since January 2012. Part one, across the border, takes sections of the border-crossing as groups of people move from Syria towards Turkey. Part two, left overs, is dedicated to the things and objects that remain behind the people-crossing the border. Part three, hospitality, shows a glimpse of the spaces of shelter, labour, and gathering in Turkey.
In this talk, Tarlan discusses the impetus behind the photos with the arrival of some 3.7 million Syrians in Turkey, many who have passed through and/or settled in Gaziantep, a city in Turkey on the border of Syria. Tarlan’s photos bear witness to the effort of Syrian people to escape, their agency and their (universal) right to move.
Full bio:
Kemal Vurla Tarlan is a researcher and documentary photographer based in Gaziantep, Turkey. He is the General Coordinator of Kırkayak Cultural Center and Director of the Middle East Cultural and Social Research Center in Gaziantep. Since 2000 he has been conducting Visual Sociology-Anthropology research on Dom communities in the Middle East. His articles and photos on Dom communities have been presented and exhibited at numerous international conferences and exhibits. He has also been involved in migrant rights activism and writing articles on refugees, migration and social integration. In 2013-2014 he conducted a project composed of photographs, video, audio and physical objects titled “Syria in Transit”, which followed Syrian refugees’ journeys from Turkey to various European countries. This project has been displayed in Gaziantep, London, Berlin, Kiel, Madrid and Istanbul. Kemal Vural Tarlan is a member of the European Sociology Association and teaches part-time in the Communications Department at Gaziantep University in Turkey.
Time: Saturday, June 8
Doors at 11am
Talk begins at 11:30am