“Artistic Statement

My oeuvre focuses on the impact of urbanization and gentrification, civic rights and participatory citizenship, documentary sustainability of local cultures and the devastation of nature caused by humankind. Cities are arenas in which inhabitants shape their idiosyncratic mode of living and their shelters. They are reflections of the societies that erected them, so you can read a culture from the settlements they have built. They are open-air anthropological / ethnographic museums where you can observe the “real” soul, in other words the genius loci.

I see producing documentary / fictitious works on the sustainability of cultural, architectural heritage and memory as a form of involvement and resistance. While doing this, I aim to defamiliarize ordinariness and make the resulting visuality provide the basis for unexpected perception.

A unique text that the highly respected Istanbul-based author, writer, playwright and poet Murathan Mungan wrote for my very first monograph titled “New Turkey,” sheds light on my creative instincts: “When one views Murat Germen’s works, which display a combination of mastery and craftsmanship, one notices at the very outset that he is a photographer with a point to prove. In his photographs, which make constant reference to space, the question ‘where is this place?’ gains particular importance [because the artist’s photographs], to use Lefebvre’s definition, are involved in the ‘production of space.” (sakipsabancimardinkentmuzesi.com)

• Construction management
• Lighting design
• Artwork installation

photo credit: Murat Germen – SSM