Ahmet Elhan’s Latest Series Deconstructs the History of Photography
One would be forgiven for mistaking “Ground Glass,” Galeri Zilberman’s latest exhibition, for a historic survey of turn-of-the-century photography. The walls are hung with black-and-white prints of nature, recalling canonical photographers like Eugène Atget or Ansel Adams. In actuality, the show presents the latest body of work by Turkish artist Ahmet Elhan, whose practice reaches back through the history of the photographic image to dissect the medium’s contemporary relevance.
The show’s concept revolves around the view camera—a large, box-like instrument that was the standard tool for early photographers and is still favored by some specialists for its ability to produce large, extremely sharp pictures. The “ground glass” of the show’s title is a piece of frosted glass on the back of the camera which displays what the lens is seeing—the 19th-century equivalent of today’s digital viewfinder. At Zilberman, each of Elhan’s photographs are presented behind a piece of ground glass, complete with the grid used to ensure straight perspective. Though photographs are often seen as truthful replicas of reality, the inclusion of the ground glass underscores that the images have been deliberately composed by the photographer. It’s impossible to lose oneself in these picturesque landscapes, as a reminder of the artist’s hand literally obstructs the image.
Such a conceptual focus would seem in contrast with the pictorial concerns of the images beneath the glass plates. Each depicts a carefully composed, quiet landscape, where light is used for dramatic effect. In Ground Glass #001 (2015), for instance, a single leaf, illuminated by a beam of light, emerges from the surrounding darkness. Ground Glass #005 (2015) focuses on a river reflection, so murkily lit that it’s difficult to tell if the photograph was shot during the day or night.
Elhan doesn’t aim to deny viewers of the pleasures of photography—rather, he wants them to recognize that no image offers an unbiased view of the world. Juggling a desire for formal beauty with conceptual rigor is no easy task, but Elhan finds a way to unite the two into single, stirring photographic works.
—Andrew Wagner
“Ground Glass” is on view at Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul, Jan. 9–Mar. 19, 2016.
