Collector of Moments: Kıvılcım Güngörün

UnframedMarch 22, 2018
Collector of Moments: Kıvılcım Güngörün

We’re with Kıvılcım. She emphasizes that she enjoys telling her memories and listening to those of others.

Maybe that’s why we’re so impressed by her photographs. We start our conversation by talking about her love for autumn, the mystery of the blue, and to cook. “I can be a bit boring and slow when I’m alone at home or another place, but I’m better at having fun and being active when I’m with people.” Kıvılcım’s realism has such a great presence; she talks about her desire to play the piano which she never does, “I’ve always wanted to play the piano, but I never even tried to learn it. These small desires can be so sweet. If you tried you could see yourself fail, but when it’s a possibility…”

She describes herself as a “collector of moments” as a photograph. “Collecting moments that no longer exist! It sounds gloomy. It’s very striking and addictive. I have hundreds of photographs which keep the moments that will never come back. Taking pictures is the only think I’ll continue to do with freedom, love and passion in this life. I know that, and I think this is the most exciting aspect about it – that I cannot imagine a life without photography. I have a lot to add to it but it’s hard for me to find something to replace this.”

Kıvılcım remains distant to the visual world dominated by social media. She says that she doesn’t have an Internet connection at home for four or five years and connects to the world via her cellphone. “Since it’s an old habit, I regularly follow only a few pages on social media. Sustainability and continuity slowly vanished due to my limited access to social media. I usually follow my friends and a few other people; they rarely change so have been the same for years.”

She describes her perception of photography as “Recording my experiences and framing what I witness through them,” and adds, “I’ve created, developed and shaped my visual perception with the inspiration and perspectives I see in how other people record and present their lives on social media. This has been going on the same, but it’s gotten harder in the last two or three years. Technology and social media have taken an interesting role in terms of meaning, and it’s gaining momentum. There are countless examples that have lost the sense of candidness and naturalness. It’s as if people used to share photographs from their daily lives without any filtering but I now find it hard to see that naturalness and feeding myself in that respect. This has been happening to me as well – I sometimes find myself creating personas that criticize a photography I plan to share. Of course, I quickly remember that these are personalities I create in my mind and share what I want to anyway. In short, I continue to be active on the Internet and social media but not being dominated by it.” We cannot wait to get lost in Kıvılcım’s memories!

1. How would you describe being original?

2. What does passion mean to you?

3. .How would you describe fashion?

4. What remains in your mind from the ‘90s?

Author: Duygu Bengi

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