OFFICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The images depicted as part of Office of Photography series appreciate photography as memorabilia, and as an object to be possessed; however in the meantime question its reliability and the act of making a photograph.

Since it is strictly forbidden to record anything inside or near any premises that belong to the army, the photographs were taken by the ‘Office of Photography’ located inside the military facilities during the mandatory military service of the artist. The photographs that were made and the digital manipulations of the editor are a part of the office’s regular services. The artist bought a regular photo bundle and let himself to the directions of the photographer, the dresser and the editor afterwards. They took 10 to 12 photographs in a fake set, that was organized like a station, after they made him wear fake professional tools and hold a fake rifle. The photographer told him how to pose in each of these consequent stations in order to bring the manliest appearance in that limited time. During his real service in the army, inside a real regiment, where one is only allowed to wear one type of clothing without washing for 21 days, photographs were made in a fake setting, with fake clothes, creating fake situations in order to pump bravado and manhood up in an image that will be proudly looked at by the relatives back home. In this way, an era for a Turkish male citizen will be proudly closed and the photographs will be ready to be put on a shelf with a relief.

In this manner, while questioning photographic reality, Office of Photography serial also challenges the idea of being a soldier as a compulsory shared social culture. What does it mean to be a soldier, what does it mean to be obliged to be a soldier? In order to produce a photograph, what does it mean to act in a fake setting inside a very real yet temporary situation that is imposed on you within a certain period of time in your life? What does it mean to possess such photographs?