Solène Gün, 2020
Kardeşlik from the series Turunç
Created by Solène Gün in 2020. Using photography printed on satin paper as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 110 x 90 cm.
The artwork explores themes such as identity. Through this image, the symbol of fraternity is placed at the forefront in order to escape the stereotypes people may have on suburbs and young from the Turkish community.
The series Turunç (Bitter Orange) records the daily lives of young men with a Turkish background in the suburbs of Paris and Berlin. Solène Gün, herself a child of Turkish immigrants and raised in a Parisian suburb, captures the fraternity and strong mutual solidarity that can also go hand in hand with a lack of perspective.
The work is named after an orange commonly found in Turkey. The fruit is a metaphor for the bittersweet existence of a community that is frequently the target of negative stereotyping. Torn between the conflicting urge to hide and the wish to be heard, these men are portrayed faceless. Gün’s focus is on the symbols and gestures through which their identities are expressed, such as a necklace, a prayer rug or the silhouette of a brotherly handshake.
© Solène Gün, courtesy of the Foam Collection
