Turkey is a Muslim country as it known, Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), one of two major holidays in Muslim religion. The holiday is believed to originate from the myth of Abraham, who attempted to sacrifice his innocent son, Isaac, for God but was instead sent a ram from the sky. Korkmaz’s crisp but tender approach to this myth in Eid al-Adha series builds a parallel between the sacrificed and the queer body, in Isaac and Korkmaz’s embodiment of the martyr. The works further chronicle the slaughter process with shots that maneuver between grotesque and abstract. The unfiltered brutality practiced on the animal yields emotionally distressing, yet formally non-figurative shots—questioning photography’s role for documentation and introspection. Rendered in intimate or immersive scales, the photographs convey a corporal exposure, both on metaphorical and tangible layers.
