03.08.2009, Today’s Zaman

Students' Exam Stress Travels to Poland

Bilkent University lecturer Murad Gürzumar likens his students’ exam stress to a scream, and now the academic has taken his photographic depictions of his students' "silent screams" to Poland.

"Çığlık" (Scream), Gürzumar's 27-piece collection of black-and-white photographs of his students taken during their end-of-semester exam weeks, is on exhibition in an art gallery run by the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) in the city of Gdansk, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"Screaming is actually a highly visual rather than audio occurrence. Screaming is a reaction of the body to discharge [stress]; its auditory part is only an outcome of this [reaction]. Because we tend to focus on the voice during a scream, we usually ignore the mimics," Gürzumar, who teaches in Bilkent's graphic design department, told Anatolia. "Monochrome strengthens the photographs' meanings," he added. All photographs in Gürzumar's exhibition have been shot under the same light and with the same angle, thus highlighting facial expressions.

The exhibition will remain on view through Aug. 31 at the Gdansk gallery.