ISTANBUL.- Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum presents the exhibition titled Samih Rifat: "Much Is to Be Done", offering a glimpse into the world of art and thought of the multifaceted intellectual Samih Rifat. The exhibition, which sheds light on his intellectual journey, interdisciplinary transitions, and poetic sensibility, brings together his notebooks and notes alongside his works in photography, writing, poetry, translation, drawing, film, and music in a comprehensive manner for the first time and welcomes visitors until August 17.
On its 20th anniversary, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum presents the exhibition titled Samih Rifat: "Much Is to Be Done" – photographs, films, drawings, poems, notebooks, books, and music…, centering on an intellectual of “a thousand arts”, Samih Rifat. The exhibition, which sheds light on Rifat’s intellectual journey, interdisciplinary transitions, and poetic sensibility, offers visitors a glimpse into his artistic and intellectual universe. The exhibition, bringing together his notebooks and hand-written notes alongside his works in photography, poetry, translation, drawing, film, and music in a comprehensive manner for the first time, makes visible the intellectual legacy of Rifat, who passed away at an early age in 2007.
The exhibition, which offers a new perspective on Rifat's creative process, intellectual curiosity, and approach to art -nurtured by the artistic and intellectual heritage of both the West and Anatolia and recognized as a highly competent man of culture with broad fields of interests- is curated with the advisory of Serhan Ada, with photography advisory by Esra Özdoğan and Ahmet Elhan, and exhibition and book design by Bülent Erkmen.
The phrase that gives the exhibition its name: "So much to do, so little time."
The phrase, "So much to do, so little time," which lends its name to the exhibition, is a brief yet deeply meaningful note found in one of Samih Rifat’s notebooks. This expression not only encapsulates Rifat’s approach to creation and his endless creative curiosity but also embodies the very spirit of the exhibition.
Curatorial Advisor Serhan Ada, reflecting on Rifat’s unfinished projects, his constant urge to create, and his meticulous creativity racing against time, states: "Why would a person who does so many things bemoan not being able to do things? Surely because he is not satisfied with what he does, or because he vehemently criticizes his own work. With these short, seemingly random notes sprinkled in his notebooks, he is, as it were, trying to further motivate himself.”
Photographs reflecting his aesthetic vision
Samih Rifat’s black-and-white photographs stand out as one of the most striking sections of the exhibition. His frames, capturing the relationship between the city, nature, architecture, archaeology, and people, reflect his aesthetic sensibility and visual world. Alongside texts exploring Rifat’s perspective on photography, the exhibition also presents some of his writings and critiques on the subject, offering visitors a deeper insight into his artistic vision.
One of the photography advisors, Esra Özdoğan, describes Samih Rifat’s perspective on photography, using both her own observations and his words: “When he talked about his own photographic production, he said that he perceived photography not as an art but a ‘craft’, but he also strove to bring the shadow of poetry into photography. He likes to think of himself as a ‘colleague’ of the marketplace photographer, street photographer, wedding photographer or local photojournalist in a small town, but he writes, ‘I have always thought that the art form closest to photography is not painting as it is widely thought, but writing, or rather, poetry’.”
Previously unseen books
Gaining significant recognition in the literary world through his translations, Samih Rifat introduced numerous important works to Turkish, including those of Heraclitus, Leonardo da Vinci, contemporary French poets, and Byzantine poets. For Rifat, translation and poetry were organically intertwined. His deep fascination with the ancient world, passion for languages, and meticulous approach to translation stand out as one of the most compelling aspects of the exhibition. The exhibition features Rifat’s translations, notes he took during the translation process, and his commentaries on these texts, as well as his poetry book titled Çocuğu Anlat Bana [Tell me About the Child], Ada [The Island], a collection of delicate short texts about his childhood, and Akla Kara Arası [Between Black and White], which includes works by certain photographers and some of his writings on photography.
The book titled Gece Yazı [Summer of Night], which Samih Rifat co-translated with his father, Oktay Rifat, is also featured in the exhibition as one of the most striking examples of their father-son collaboration. Translating Yves Bonnefoy’s long poem, they created a work that vividly showcases Rifat’s deep, organic connection with poetry and language.
Rifat’s handwritten notebooks, notes, and sketches offer a glimpse into his thought process, creative journey, and relationship with art. These original documents, presented to art enthusiasts for the first time, create a unique narrative of his artistic production.
In the footsteps of a “polymath”
Another artistic expression that deeply influenced Rifat -his passion for music and the guitar- also finds its place in the exhibition. His notes reflecting his interest in music, classical guitar pieces, and writings on music offer visitors a unique opportunity to explore this multifaceted intellectual from yet another perspective.
The exhibition, which serves as a tribute in honor of Samih Rifat, an interdisciplinary intellectual, who took on the role of artistic advisor during the early years of Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation and contributed to many exhibitions at Pera Museum, including those by world-renowned photographers such as Henri-Cartier Bresson and Josef Koudelka, can be visited until August 17.
