Collective reflecting the life and times of Turkey

By exposing different situations in life, the artists at Nar Photos are creating a collective memory of the recent past as well as a broad area for discussion. Their new exhibition, ‘On the Road,’ presents a panorama of events and situations in Turkey’s recent history A new exhibition at Istanbul Modern might outwardly seem like a presentation of photographs, but the show would more appropriately be seen as a mirror on the societal realities beyond the confines of the gallery walls.

“On the Road” presents 10 years of photos from the archive of Nar Photos, an independent collective that has recorded both major and under-reported events in Turkey’s recent history.

Curated by Sena Çakırkaya, the exhibition, which opened on May 29, will be on view through Nov. 9. Nar Photos is an independent collective which, since 2003, has been bringing together diverse viewpoints in Turkey through their egalitarian, democratic approach and their stance for freedom. Using photography as a visual tool to understand and express the world, the agency chooses to question rather than accept facts as they are presented.

By exposing different situations in life, they create a collective memory of the recent past as well as a broad area for discussion. Through the feature stories and news photography by the agency, the exhibition touches upon major events that have occurred in Turkey while also objectively reflecting authentic snapshots from around the country.

“The photographs do not show facts as they are presented to us; rather, they display the steps of a journey toward questioning the things that are accepted as facts. This visual archive does not look from without; with its...