gold - Emanuel Mathias

The "Grand Bazaar" in Istanbul is considered the third largest traditional marketplace for gold transactions in the world. For over six centuries, it has been the place where the country's gold price is determined. In a small alley during fixed trading hours, the same 25 male traders compete for the best deals, their loud trading practices audible from afar.

In the exhibition gold, Emanuel Mathias presents a series of 33 photographs that possess not only a documentary quality. During a six-month residency in Istanbul, he captured the traders at work with his camera. The fascinating snapshots reveal that the activities are far from chaotic; rather, they follow a strict order. One can see that the traders employ a well-established system of gestures to communicate with one another. Their faces convey a deep psychological language, oscillating between moments of intense focus and total exhaustion.

In their sequential arrangement, the photographs of the traders create a kind of storyboard, transforming them into protagonists of a fictional narrative. This also raises the question of how and why we, as viewers, establish connections between individual images.

Emanuel Mathias studied photography from 2002 to 2011 at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig under Timm Rautert and Christopher Muller. In 2011, he completed the master class with Tina Bara and was awarded the Marion Ermer Prize. In 2013, he received the SYN Award along with a work stipend at the Bauhaus Dessau.