Creating Room for Emotions: Berk Kır

Berk Kır, who is nourished by Istanbul and centers his life around imagining with images, defines the spark of his passion for photography as follows: ‘Everything began with trying to understand where my own world fits within the visibilities of the external world.’ Emphasizing that through the practices of contemporary remembrance and forgetting, especially facilitated by social media and Instagram, a person highlights their existence as a visual culture actor, Berk summarizes the situation with the following words: ‘The digital world has accelerated the goal of reaching predetermined images within the act of thinking. In this sense, I consider this effect as the accelerating force of visual culture and the individual.’ We certainly agree that selectivity is the factor that sets a photograph apart from its counterparts.

There is a biographical flow to Berk’s visual world. He summarizes the production practice of his images, created not with a technical approach but by giving ample space to his emotions, with the following statement: ‘I collect objects I come across and observe events by taking long walks in the cities I visit, especially in the city I live in, Istanbul. I use these objects as materials and subjects for my next photograph. The events I witness can also serve as a starting point for the next idea. I’m interested in digesting them in some way. Through photography, I develop a kind of conceptual approach between the moments when objects from different times and places are found on the streets and when they are found in enclosed and private spaces. This approach reveals interactions, attitudes, potentials, gender politics, and many other things among the objects. I think of photography as a meeting space and surfaces for social structures.’

How does the concept of hope occupy a space in his life?

Dream or reality?

How does the chaotic structure of Istanbul affect your creative process?

How have you been feeling lately?

When you lose your individual motivation and how do you find the strength to start again?