A calligraphic composition

Nazif Topçuoğlu

Nazif Topçuoğlu says that the unifying preoccupation throughout his bodies of work is with time and loss: “I worry about the transience of people and things in general, and try to reconstruct unclear and imperfect images of an idealized past.” This is the reason, he explains, that many of his works make reference to Old Master paintings, as well as to the writings of Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann. Topçuoğlu, who holds degrees in both photography and architecture, is most famous for his carefully staged tableaux of young women, still lifes, and their interaction. For example, Topçuoğlu has several parallel series featuring girls holding offal or vegetables in Istanbul and New York in stylized settings. His ongoing series titled “Readers” (2001–) shows dramatically staged scenes of girls in libraries.