Sahar

Date : 20 January 2023, 18:00 – 17 February 2022, BST

Location : INSPECTION PIT
East Harting
West Sussex
GU31 5LZ

Sahar

Katy Vetch presents SAHAR, a photographic exhibition showing framed photographs taken and developed in a darkroom by and through the eyes of children. The children have been taking part in workshops run by Sirkhane DARKROOM, which is situated in the Turkish city of Mardin, a few miles from the Syrian border. When the children first see an image appearing from the photographic paper in the dim light of the darkroom, they often use the Arabic word for magic: SAHAR.

By teaching the basics of analogue photography and the process of developing and printing in the darkroom, photographer Serbest Salih, a Syrian refugee, aims to help Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish refugee children integrate with Turkish children; encouraging them to share stories of where and how they live. Children who have endured war and traumatic experiences are given space to heal.

The results are surprisingly joyful, ethereal, and informative of lives lived on the margins of society, but also through the optimism of a child’s eye. Serbest’s extraordinary project creates a ray of light out of the darkness. Sirkhane DARKROOM demonstrates the importance photography and darkroom printing can play in exploring experiences but also as a therapeutic tool. The process of printing in the darkroom is meditative, causing the printer to stop and think, to calculate composition, measure light and timing to produce images which present to the viewer the way one sees the world. In the uncertain and hectic lives of these displaced children, just for a while, the peace and quiet of the darkroom can make time stand still.

In the exhibition a short film by Lily Vetch, made whilst visiting Sirkhane DARKROOM, will be shown.

The photographs will be on sale and all proceeds will go towards buying much needed equipment for Sirkhane DARKROOM.