Exhibition - The Other Kemal

Gallery X-ist hosts Ahmet Polat's new photography show 'The Other Kemal between 6 - 29 March 2014. Ahmet Polat previously had two solo shows at X-ist, 'Submitting to Change' (2005) and 'Invitations Only' (2006), followed by several international shows in Netherlands, Austria and Brazil. After a short break, Polat finally returns to the Turkish art scene with 'The Other Kemal'.

Ahmet Polat created Kemal's Dream, one of the most important series of his career, between 2006-2012, travelling from Istanbul to the Black Sea and from Gaziantep in the south-east to the Aegean region, photographing and interviewing the Turkish youth. After this series he took the time to reflect more on his work and for this show, selected a group of images from Kemal's Dream that have never shown before in addition to some earlier work which have played a crucial role in the discovery of his new look on photography.

With 'The Other Kemal', Ahmet Polat rethinks his relationship with photography and its power to represent or manipulate the truth. Bringing out the collisions in the society through details of everyday life, the artist, this time, is not interested in what the images show, but what they actually disguise. Thus, he re-evaluates his initial goals to set out on this journey in Turkey and their outcome, basically questioning his choice to use photography as a medium.