After attending a basic photography class in 1999 at Ankara University, Nadir Bucan bought an analog camera and began to learn the ropes. Despite the technical advancements of photography, he shot on film for another ten years, with his works exhibited from New York to Beijing. Describing himself as both an academic and a documentary photographer, Nadir’s work investigates the ideas of sociologists like Zygmunt Bauman, Paul Virilio, and Manuel Castells. In 2010, he relocated to the Van region of Turkey to teach at the Yuzuncu Yil University. It’s here he discovered a more traditional way of living, and photographed locals going about their daily lives undisturbed by technology or the hustle and bustle of the big city. We featured the resulting series, “Under the Shadow of the Sun,” which questions whether progress can truly bring joy to humankind.
