The work series of Istanbul artist Onur Hastürk show a contemporary engagement of Ottoman illuminated manuscripts and miniature paintings stunning in its meticulous technique and delicate gender-fluid imagery. The exhibition will show brand new works to be created at the Taswir artist residency in April, 2025. 

Onur Hastürk (*1983 in Mersin) was trained in the traditional art of gilding, Ottoman miniature paintings and Islamic illuminated manuscripts. Hastürk has held various solo and collective shows in Istanbul and abroad, such as in Milan, Rome, Porto, London, and Düsseldorf (Anna Laudel). The artist lives and works in Istanbul.

“A Portrait of Michel” is an investigative video portrait of the Uncle of the artist, Michel, and the circumstances surrounding his mysterious abduction by the Hafez al-Assad regime in Damascus in 1978. Through witnesses and bribery, we found out he was sent to three different prisons: Mezzeh, Sednaya, and Palmyra. Michel was never seen or heard from since.

Christine Gedeon, born in Aleppo/Syria and raised in the USA, is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker who lives in Berlin and New York. She is the recipient of numerous residencies, grants, and fellowships, and held various solo and group exhibitions in Berlin, Dubrovnik, New York, and Toronto, among others.

The work series "Elsewhere" is a journey to the land of historic Palestine, a place that lives in our imagination. Steve Sabella reveals an archaeology of the future in multi-layered photo-chrome images from 19th century historic Palestine, including a pictures from Syria and Lebanon.

Steve Sabella (*1975 in Jerusalem, Palestine)is a Berlin-based widely exhibited international artist using photography and photographic installations as his primary forms of expression. Probing into the colonization of the imagination, he is the author of the award-winning memoir The Parachute Paradox  (2016).