The new solo exhibition of artist TUNCA, producing interdisciplinary works shaped around the themes memory and identity, is focusing on Turkish sportsman Sabri Mahir, who was "printed on postcards in Germany".
The exhibition entitled “Misfortunes and New Joys” can be viewed at Galerist until December 11, 2021.
Written by Çağla Vera and Sedef İlgiç
Translated to English by Işıl İlker
TUNCA, from the Exhibiton "Misfortunes and New Joys" © Galerist
TUNCA, from the Exhibiton "Misfortunes and New Joys" © Galerist
TUNCA comes across six photographs, apparently taken at the Georg Gerlach studio in Berlin, at an auction. The boxer in these photographs, Sabri Mahir, is positioned at the centre of the exhibition. Born in Istanbul in 1890, Sabri Mahir started his sports career as a football player while he was studying at Galatasaray Highschool. It has been rumoured that he fled to France after he got involved in a fight during a match in 1910. From this point, the reality of Mahir’s story becomes indeterminate: There are rumours that he made his living in Paris by professional boxing, went out for matches in Spain, worked as a gymnastics coach in Oxford University, got arrested with the suspicion of being a spy and was sent to Germany, where he trained Max Schmeling, the world boxing champion.
TUNCA, from the Exhibiton "Misfortunes and New Joys" © Galerist
This disputable personal history of Sabri Mahir continues with the boxing studio he established in Berlin: It is known that he began to become famous by his nicknames “Der Schreckliche Türke” (The Horrible Turk) and “The One Who Fights Against Four Men”. It is put on the written records that he hosted such guests as Bertolt Brecht, Vladimir Nabokov in his studio, besides training Vicki Baum and Marlene Dietrich. Like some of the events in his life, Mahir’s death remains a mystery.
Here, we have shared only a summary of Sabri Mahir's life story taking notes from the exhibition catalogue. It reads like a movie script, or, in the words of the curator of the exhibition, Serra Yentürk “a myth, with Mahir as its protagonist”. You can read more about this story and its interpretation in the exhibition from here .
In his second solo exhibition, TUNCA manipulates this obscure history by compounding the stories of Sabri Mahir and the poet Arthur Cravan, who “had parallel paths and similar dispositions”.
You can visit the exhibition until December 11 physically or have a virtual tour .
