meltem ışık constructs hybrid humans from magnified body parts
(above) suspicious affinities (untitled #4), 2015
7 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 100 x 100 cm
all images courtesy of meltem ışık / galeri nev istanbul

 

 

 

in the series of ‘suspicious affinities’ by turkish artist meltem ışık, the human body is broken up into segmented specimens and reassembled into unconventional interpretations of people and animals. beginning by photographing details of different body parts — like ears, noses, chins and feet — ışık reassembles these chosen images into a whole that is different than the sum of its parts, described by the artist as ‘forming sentences with words borrowed from others’.

 

for example, the composition of a monkey is illustrated by 10 prints carefully configured into the face of the animal, with a hairy stomach acting as the ape’s head and two belly buttons in place of eyes; a cat is made using details of human ears and wrinkled skin as whiskers; the neck of a horse is formed from a zoomed in view of a human arm. ‘the human eye is capable of perceiving the whole, while focusing on a detail simultaneously,’ ışık says. ‘however, looking through the camera, one has to choose one or the other’. by meticulously organizing close-up photographs of various bodies, the artist explores the role of our perception and memory in constructing reality.

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suspicious affinities (untitled #9), 2015
10 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 115 x 135 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #8), 2015
9 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 100 x 86 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #6), 2015
11 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 166x 110 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #1), 2015
8 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 140 x 100 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #5), 2015
9 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 140 x 140 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #3), 2015
8 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 140 x 100 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #7), 2015
9 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 100 x 176 cm

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suspicious affinities (untitled #2), 2015
8 archival pigment prints, diasec | installation size 140 x 100 cm