Ahmet Unver

‘Gurbet / Far away’

Until the 1960s, Sweden was a country closed to immigration. Many of the new immigrants arrived from Turkey with the idea of making their fortunes and returning to their country of origin. In reality, however, very few immigrants have gone back. This notion of return has meant that some Turks live in a parallel community in order to protect their own culture from another which is alien to them. The result is that this community is never fully integrated into its country of residence.

Unver belongs to the second generation of Turks, born in Sweden, a generation without a real opportunity to integrate, isolated in a collective that has not wanted to become 'Swedish' for fear of betraying its cultural roots. This distancing of Unver from his country of birth allows him to see clearly the conflict between his history and his expectations, strengthening the research of his own identity.

His return to Stockholm to photograph members of the Turkish community allowed him to discover a different flow of life, and realise that, although nobody speaks openly about 'returning', there is an undercurrent of silent feeling that believes it will never happen.

Background

Stockholm, Sweden, 1981. Unver lives and works in Turkey.

Ahmet Unver began his education in his birthplace, Stockholm, joining the Media Programme and specialising in photography and video. In 2007 he graduated in Art from the University of Brighton, on the Editorial Photography course, with an honorary mention. After travelling and working, Unver settled in Istanbul, where he continues his work as a documentary maker and artistic photographer. He has shown his work in the United Kingdom and has won several prizes for his photographs.