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Join us as we bring great photography by emerging and established photographers that explores ideas and our world through an annual festival of exhibitions, workshops and conversations led by Australian and international artists and thought-leaders. Head On Photo Festival is presented by the not-for-profit Head On Foundation.
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Can a headless horse dream?
What does a headless horse dream of?
My grandpa’s answer was short and clear: ‘He Dreams of The Black Sea’.
Some of the most memorable times I had as a child were the summer times that the whole family used to spend in a small hut on the Black Sea coast. The highlight had always been the mesmerizing stories my grandpa used to tell us about the headless horses, pretty girls and the sea. He was a retired actor who was trapped between his delusions and dreams. I still bear the magic of his stories.
When I visited my birth-land after 25 years, the sea evoked all those memories, interrupting my thoughts and daydreams. This initial visit quickly flourished into a work about the Black Sea coast and its people.
I view my journey as a documentation of life along the coast, and about the mysticism that had existed in my grandpa's stories. I have been roaming over the region, mostly in the southern part, searching for traces of my past, looking for visual notes connecting my present existence to my childhood by the sea and to the sea itself. I pursued an intimate reality in the dreamlike atmosphere that comes from being around the common people of the region and their daily activities, their lives ‘so to speak’.
One sees a dream within the moment of a blink of an eye, they say. Yes a horse dreams. And his dreams wake me up and blend me in colours. So bright, so light.
Head On at 107 draws together 8 photographic artists. The series have been selected to sit together yet stand apart, representing different approaches. The curatorial process gives equal weight to each artist’s work and unifies the exhibition space. The artists collaborate on installation, promotion and social media, supporting each other through the process of exhibition.
Artists: Allan Coker, Christine Ansorge, Fiona Ruck, Francis Minien, Kate Ballis, Kelly Slater, Natalia Mroz, Suzan Pektas.
Curator: Sandy Edwards
Suzan Pektas is an Istanbul based independent photographer. She developed her passion for visual language during her college years and attended several training programs and workshops. She joined a documentary group in Istanbul in 2015 and chose documentary photography as one of her major fields. She explores various forms of visual expressions at the crossroad of visual arts and documentary. Mostly focusing on the identity of individuals in relation to their environments, Suzan’s current projects are primarily on women, urban transformation and immigration. Her works have been featured in printed and online media such as Leica Camera, LFI, LensCulture, 6MOIS, RedMilk Magazine, etc. and exhibited in international festivals.
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