The project Turunç (Bitter Orange) is an exploration of the daily lives of young men with a Turkish background in the suburbs of Paris and Berlin. Solène Gün (1996, FR/CH), herself a child of Turkish immigrants, focuses on the environment of these boys.

What she records is the fraternity, solidarity and hope that connects them as a community, despite the situations of boredom, violence and despair they are often confronted with. Gün translates the contradictory desire that she sees in these young men, on the one hand to hide and on the other the need to show oneself, into poetic images that empathise with a group that is often burdened with negative stereotyping. In her photographs, the suburbs become a universe apart, out of sight or interest of the government, in which a lack of perspective goes hand in hand with strong solidarity.

Both vaporous and immutable, fraternal bonds are central in this universe and, from bluish gradients to bright orange, Turunç is also the expression of a softer form of masculinity.

160pp, 230 × 290 mm
Softcover with flaps
Signed
Published at the occasion of the exhibition Turunç at Foam Museum Amsterdam
December 2019 - February 2020