Galeri Nev continues its series of exhibitions with Ibrahim Karakütük’s “The Cave of the Starving Lion”. The show reflects on a biblical narrative, as a sinner, cast into a lion’s den as punishment, and the lions who discipline him through starvation rather than consumption parade through the photographer’s imagery. Ibrahim Karakütük, seeks refuge in this metaphorical cave, concealing his inner turmoil and shame. Echoing Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” (1864), the artist laments those who are filled with anger and their inability to recognize love. “The Cave of the Starving Lion” explores the journey of escaping the grip of wrath and other overwhelming impulses. Featuring as a cameo, Ahu Akgün’s “Falling Pink” (2023), boldly diverges from traditional erotic nudes in art history. Descending among the hungry lions, the work establishes a dynamic interaction with Karakütük’s photographs.
İbrahim Karakütük embraces photography as a storytelling medium in 2012. His lens-based works are a testament to his ever-evolving artistic language, tailored to the stories he aims to convey. A co-founder of Ka Space for Visual Culture and Fotolab Print Space, his book “Wet Sorrow”, was granted the Istanbul Photobook Festival FUAM Dummy Book Award in 2017. Karakütük also self-published there books between 2013 and 2014 : “Vitrivirus Man” (2013), “My Father” (2013), and “-3” (2014). His first solo exhibition “Zigzags in the Chest Cavity” opened at Galeri Nev in 2021. Featured in numerous group shows, the artist’s works were seen at Galeri Nev’s “Angels’ Share” at Tütün Depo in Istanbul in 2017, NEVNESIL’s “Monomyth” in 2018, Galeri Nev’s 35th anniversary show “Age of Gold” in 2019 and as a part of “Another Round” in 2022, a group show by Galeri Nev with Kendi Collection, as a parallel event to the 17th Istanbul Biennial.
