Nova Scotian Artist Ufuk Gueray in Creative Residence in New York City

For his residency project at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in Brooklyn, Ufuk Gueray worked with photography, mirrors, and sound to create an installation inspired by childhood memories of his late uncle Atilla’s mirror shop in Izmir, Turkey.

Merging documentary and fictional elements

Atilla’s Mirror Shop is influenced by memories from both Turkey and Germany, where Ufuk Gueray was born and raised. While in residence in New York City, the artist reconstituted his uncle’s mirror shop by combining artifacts from the original store and ambient sound from the Izmir neighbourhood in which it was located with additional objects sourced on site in Brooklyn. The result was an installation that merged disparate places and eras and blended documentary and fictional elements to evoke a search for personal history within the context of cultural alienation.

Mirroring minority experience

Atilla’s Mirror Shop is the continuation of a family business as an art project. Each iteration of the shop conflates spaces for production and presentation and provides an environment for discussions on personal histories and fragmented identities. Visitors from diverse backgrounds are hosted in the space, and conversations that happen there become part of the mirror shop’s history