Dirimart is pleased to present Elegant Mockery, Ozan Sağdıç's first solo exhibition at the gallery. Bringing together photographs from different aspects of everyday life, the exhibition focuses on encounters in which people, movements and objects, each following their own course, appear for a moment to belong to the same whole. Crowds, streets, workplaces and places of leisure become scenes in which associations, sometimes deliberately arranged and sometimes formed by chance, acquire a temporary sense of harmony.
Viewed from a distance, a crowd becomes a pattern of bodies. Up close, this apparent unity breaks down into individual faces, gazes and gestures. Being in the same place does not necessarily mean sharing the same experience; nevertheless, separate lives briefly take on a common form. In Sağdıç's photographs, this togetherness emerges as a temporary equilibrium in which people retain their individuality. A step, a pause or a turn of the head is enough to alter the relationships within the image.
In these scenes, deliberate arrangement and spontaneous harmony intertwine. A distinct gesture emerges among the repeated movements of a dance or ceremony, while bodies on the street, unaware of one another, may fall into the same pose. Those participating in a shared rhythm continue to move in their own ways within it; those brought together by chance seem, in turn, to complement one another. The distinctive order of each moment is shaped as much by small gestures that break from repetition as by movements that recur.
Everyday life shared by people, animals, objects and spaces extends these relationships further. Proximity and distance, movement and stillness acquire meaning in relation to the forms around them. A sculpture appearing to join a group of people seated on a bench, or a handcart passing close to an aeroplane and sharing the same frame, creates unexpected connections within otherwise familiar scenes. Sağdıç's own measure of photography also becomes apparent here: an image that might initially be called 'good' becomes 'beautiful' when it captures our attention, and 'masterful' when it inspires admiration. The irony that the artist describes as zarifane alay, or 'elegant mockery', arises from these unexpected proximities. Sağdıç, who believes that photography should give pleasure, tickle our sensibilities, make us smile and prompt us to think, finds in these encounters a form of visual wit. Visual harmony also brings the differences between those placed side by side into sharper focus.
Clothing, workplaces, modes of transport and public spaces connect these moments to a changing social landscape. Each scene bears the traces of its time. Relationships that continue to evolve in the flow of life remain fixed in the photograph in an equilibrium specific to that moment. A little later, the crowd will disperse, the music will stop, the person waiting will set off, and the gathering on the bench will change.
Ozan Sağdıç's Elegant Mockery exhibition, curated by his son Ruhi Oğuz Sağdıç, is on view at Dirimart Pera from 12 November to 13 December 2026.
