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"Pictures tell stories - but which?"
Dr. Thomas Brehm, Manager of the KPZ in Nuremberg
I met Mehmet Ünal several years ago when I was searching for photographs about the life of foreign minorities in Germany for the "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany" in Bonn. During my first meeting in Mainz I wanted to get an overview about his work.
In order to place an acquisition request I asked him earlyon about his prices. I will never forget his answer: "At first we should create a personal basis". He suggested I should estimate the value of his work for the museum, everything else would follow naturally and that's exactly what happened.
I believe, at that time I have received an insight into the foundation of Ünal's photographic work. He owns a deep personal, intellectual as well as very emotional relation to his pictures and the people whose personality and life they document in sections. And there is probably a deeper reason, why he does not do photography for his main job. His relation to photography is pure luxury in a time that has put the usability of pictures in the foreground. However, as his own principal he takes the chance to photograph scenes and portraits of great expressivenes and intensity to keep them for posterity away from public taste and mainstream pressures.
While we met during the last years, Mehmet Ünal always reported about his newest projects and plans for the future; he was enthusiastic, but always disbelieving whether already the right approach was found. And, besides that, of course, we spoke about the essence of photography, his ideals, his photographic ethos. A question which has occupied us over and over again was what makes a good picture. What actually happens when the trigger is pressed just at that moment which later confirms that it was the right one.
Certainly there are different approaches to photography. There are, on one hand, the highly equipped motorized experts who chase the decisive moment like hunters to filter it out lateron in their laboratories. On the other hand, there are the economical ones who either concentrate on complex preparation, or intense observation of their subjects and situations of interest to capture them with a relatively low amount of time and equipment. Every photographer will learn during his professional carreer how to discover his own right approach to the optimal result. However, this is only one aspect of the photographic techniques. Some go into raptures when they talk about technical developments, the newest cameras and the possibilities of digital post processing. Others don't care much more about their favourite cameras than knowing the basic technical data which suits their needs. Both positions are legitimate and can lead to equally high results too. Ünal has an undramatic relation to technology. He sees its limitations and works with the possibilities that are there.
Nevertheless, the photographer's relation to the technical side of photography also influences his relation to his pictures. He judges which pictures are the ones worth keeping. Does he observe people and situations in a documentary way or does he depict a world that mirrors his imagination? Is he a picture seeker or a picture finder? Which stories does he want to tell to the viewers? Does he tell the stories about the pictures or does he tell his history in pictures?
We know in the world of photography many examples which seek to find and visually express their views on their times through the reality of photography. Some by waiting patiently for the decisive moment to occur within a split second, others by using means of inscenation and construction. And there are the big discoverers who stroll through the world and capture what they consider worth keeping, always on the look-out for the unusual and surprising.
I believe, Ünal belongs to the picture finders who know from their own experience which pictures stand for the bigger interconnection of the life of Turks in Germany. The picture of two street sweepers from the year 1982 impresses us much more about the social place of this work in the consciousness of the German middle class society than any sociological analyses. And the picture of the unemployed family of 1983 reflects the whole range of hopes and disappointments and the tension of the life of many Turks in Germany. It is common in Ünal's pictures that they tell on their own wise stories - and also history - in a very reserved way.
We, the viewers, for whom these pictures were taken, are bound to show interest in the people and their places in our society, to have interest in the people and their stories, interest in a Turkish photographer in Germany who has found "for the love" the way from Istanbul to Mainz.