All living beings must learn to respect, fear, and love the natural world. How do they express these feelings? In a new exhibition, Ergenç Korkmazel proposes that rituals play an important role in creating a visual poetry for understanding nature. ‘Rituals and Poetry of Nature’ depicts such scenes as a ceremonial bath in a fountain and a solemn gathering of flowers in a meadow. The photographer suggests that through such rituals, one can be nurtured by the natural world and attuned to its beauties and secrets. This process, he argues, is critical in the modern world, constructed as it is of concrete walls that separate us from the outdoors. Korkmazel was born in 1972 in the village of Stavrokonno in the district of Pafos. After the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, he resettled with his family in the occupied area. He first studied photography in 2001. In 2004, he returned to the town of his birth and pursued a career in photography. He has presented five solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows, including international exhibitions in Denmark and Turkey. Documentary photography forms the core of ‘Stavrokonno’, a book in which he examines his birthplace. He was the first official photographer of ‘Pafos: 2017 European Capital of Culture’. ‘Rituals and Poetry of Nature’ is on display at Anassa from 8 to 30 April 2019.
