Özlem Altin. Sleeping statue, 2013; print on litho paper; 27 ½ x 22 in. Courtesy of the Artist and Kiria Koula, San Francisco. Photo: John White.

The work of German artist Özlem Altin requires patience. Though the individual pieces in her Kiria Koula exhibition each possess their own internal import, their more significant impact lies in the constellation of relationships that emerges between them and the context they occupy. These relationships, like threads, produce a net that entangles viewers in an open and ongoing production of meaning in which their own memories and subjective navigation are active participants.

The five photo-based works and the two small oil paintings that constitute the show initially seem divergent.  The black-and-white prints combine images Altin has culled from various sources with photos she has taken herself. Some images are carefully staged; others are captured off the cuff with her cell phone. These various photographs are sometimes presented as-is, and sometimes printed one over another to produce layered amalgams. All of these pieces contain depictions of hands, though these hands are fragmented, approximated, alienated, or obscured.

Read the full article here.