Artist Statement
“...In estranging from man nature, and himself, his own active functions, his life activity, estranged labor estranges the species from man. It changes for him the life of the species into a means of individual life. First it estranges the life of the species and individual life, and secondly it makes individual life in its abstract form the purpose of the life of the species, likewise in its abstract and estranged form..."
(Karl Marx – 1844 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844)
Process Statement
“It” is valued and so photographed.
The one who shares and the one who likes re create this world built upon these images. And to one another each is ‘the other’
The individual drifts with involuntary waves, roles change;
Our miracles awaken awe but both the creator and the consumer have become strangers to what was produced.
Boundaries fade.
When we need change it is ‘the other’ our eyes search for.
Alas the other is but a dream.
Life, in all its simplicity awaits us.
Born in 1962 in Canakkale, Turkey, Emin Altan is a naval architect and photographer living in Istanbul.
In 1996 he chose photography as a field of personal expression and produced projects in search for creative presentation techniques. Altan opened personal exhibitions at home and abroad and was honored with many awards and degrees.
Under IFSAK and the Photography Foundation, he initiated efforts to promote meeting of young photographers and international photography circles and also took part in international photography festival organization teams. In 2002 he gave up photography.
After ten years once again with another “Narcissus” project he has returned to photography.