Abode And Point To The Eye (Saygun Dura's exhibition at Millî Reasürans Art Gallery, Istanbul)

While Dura puts emphasis on the concept of migration on the show “Abode And Point To The Eye”, his experiential engagement with his subject is also phenomenological. Migration is constituted of three phases, leaving the home, a liminal or transitional phase and finally, arrival. The wealth of Dura’s technical experience is evident in this body of complex, large-scale colour photographs taken underwater, at varying depts.
There are two distinct series of large-scale photographs in the show, looking at the frenzy of activities on the surface and the eery, otherworldly calmness at the bottom of the lake. One of the series represents the migration of the pearl mullet, known to be the only species to inhabit Lake Van in Eastern Turkey.
Whereas there is a plethora of subtexts in the depiction of this almost ritualistic act of survival, the images are primarily concerned with matters of urgency, presenting the universal codes of nature to reproduce, adapt and evolve.
The second body of works depicts microbialites, the pearl mullet’s natural habitat in the lake's shallow ends. Yet in this case, they are depicted as empty or abandoned by their tenants. Possessing the largest organosedimentary deposits (microbialites) reaching several meters in height, Lake Van is quite unique (Kempe et al., 1991). The scenes are eerie and ghostly. The images simultaneously capture the contrasting feelings of serenity, silence, and drama existing at the bottom of the lake.