According to Tahir Ün, ‘If art is a language to express myself, then inspiration ought to be the very life in which I am. And societal issues troubling me every so often, and sometimes my own dilemmas… Lies in the foundation of all a moral and humanitarian urge to question, shaped by one’s own ideologies. Indubitably to me, starting off with strong concepts devoid of mass-market meretriciousness, putting them in a story line and choosing the right material to ensure a firm expression make up the indispensable principles. I maintain that an artist, and her/his work, can not be deprived of a reflection of his ideology. In a sense, your ideology is a prime source of your stance in life.’
Tahir Ün wants to carry out his project both in Armenia and Turkey. He collects the letters written to 50 Armenian young people from 50 random Turkish young people and transmits these messages to random Armenian youth one by one and records their answers, feelings, and thoughts by means of video and photo (Polaroid).
The artist intends to present these letters, video records, images, and a few conceptual videos through an exhibition/installation in Armenia and Turkey under the title ‘Under the Same Sky.’ The goal of the project is to question the concept of how a ‘common future’ is used in young people’s messages, responses, and attitudes.
Tahir Ün is photographer, video and new media artist. He is also a director and the curator of the Video Art International Video Screenings Program (http://www.videoart.ist).
His photographs have been included in some important collections of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Polaroid Collection, Ransom Center Photography, Video Library P’Silo, State Museum of Majdenek, and Rhizome Artbase.
Tahir Ün has published four books titled ‘Imagined Views/Moments of Revulsion’ (1990), ‘The Poetic Introduction of Representation of the Hidden Photographs’ (1995), ‘Xinjiang: My Ancestral Land’ (2012), and ‘1+40 Ali’ (2014). Since 2000, his articles about image theory have been published in various Turkish art magazines. His art works have been displayed in numerous worldwide events including 27 solo exhibitions.
He has been working periodically at Xinjiang (Uighur) Autonomous Region of China, Balkans, Azerbaijan, and Turkey as a freelance photographer. Tahir Ün is also active in new media arts and works as an instructor at the Cinema, Radio, and Television Department of the Communication Faculty of Yasar University in Izmir.
Links
http://rhizome.org/art/artbase/artist/tahir-%C3%BAn/
https://www.lensculture.com/tahirun
https://vimeo.com/tahirun