Kutluğ Ataman

Kutluğ Ataman (born 1961 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish contemporary artist and filmmaker, whose pieces in photography and video art have won him much critical praise.

Biography

Openly gay himself, Ataman's work often explores sexual identity and gender. In 1997 he filmed Turkish opera diva Semiha Berksoy, and his piece Women Who Wear Wigs featured four Turkish women - a revolutionary whose face remained obscured, well-known journalist and breast cancer survivor Nevval Sevindi, an anonymous devout Muslim student, and an activist and transsexual prostitute.

He was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1961 and graduated in 1985 with a BA in Film from the University of California. He completed his MFA in 1988. As of 2004 he lives and works in Istanbul, London and Barcelona.

Ataman was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2004 for his contribution to the Istanbul Biennial 2003, and for various exhibitions in 2003-2004. He received the "Best Director" award for the film İki Genç Kız at the 2005 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.

Although a successful video artist Ataman has not had the same level of success in the area of feature films, having gained a reputation for being an extremely exacting artist but unable to function properly in the collaborative arena of filmmaking unless he himself was in complete control. His latest project to suffer collapse, "The Coat", had to be abandoned due to the director getting cold feet at the eleventh hour and refusing to appear during pre-production on the island of Cyprus in 2005.

Filmography

Director:

• Karanlık Sular (1993)
• Lola + Bilidikid (1999)
• The 4 Seasons of Veronica Read (2002) (V)
• İki Genç Kız (2005)

External links

• Kutlug Ataman.co.uk
• Observer article on Ataman
• Kutluğ Ataman at Lehmann Maupin Gallery
• De-regulation with the work of Kutluğ Ataman Exhibition at MUHKA Antwerp from 17.03-28.05.2006