Exhibition / Güle Güle by Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni

Güle Güle - goodbye in Turkish - is a photographic project by Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni focused on the metropolis of Istanbul that offers a personal representation of the profound changes affecting the city and, more broadly, Turkish society. The work represents the third chapter on cities in transition signed by the Italian-French duo after those on Rome and Naples.

The critical situation affecting the weaker social classes, gentrification, the growing discrimination of homosexuals, the massive migratory flow of Syrian refugees and the endemic Kurdish problem are just some of the dimensions that lie behind the subjects and places portrayed. Pieces of a mosaic that reveals how these communities exposed to rapid mutations seem to divide into separate microcosms ready to reveal the most intimate aspects of their character: fragility, passions and desires, hopes and fears.

The exploration of this monadic reality represents the fulcrum around which the project develops. Documenting marginalized communities turns into a revealing process that allows us to come into contact with that human substratum lying beyond the commonly accepted social surface and which for Caimi & Piccinni represents the most sincere expression of every city. While following a documentary approach, the authors propose to leave the informative and didactic content of the images in the background in favor of visual immediacy.

The photographs, characterized by a unique and fascinating humanity and by atmospheres with peculiar visual features, are the result of the numerous relationships established with those people and places that allowed the authors to penetrate the complexity of the city. Their sequence, both in the exhibition and in the book, represents an important interpretation of the work that often relates images taken in very different environments. This interaction invites us to explore the city from a new perspective and creates a short circuit of otherwise unimaginable scenarios, revealing the intricacies and the most hidden details of Istanbul.

A propositive approach that asks questions to the viewer and at the same time triggers an emotional experience within an inexhaustible circular narrative.

Güle Güle has been chosen as the opening exhibition of the PhMuseum Lab among the works presented at the PhMuseum 2020 Photography Grant. The inaugural weekend also includes a presentation of the photo book Güle Güle (published by André Frère Éditions) and a workshop conducted by Jean-Marc and Valentina. For more info write to info@phmuseumlab.com.