24 May, 2020
Anto Magzan, in his series Dervishes – A Struggle for Consciousness (Istanbul, 2019), beside documentary images of ritual dance, practices, and places, he intuitively captures the atmosphere. The Dervish dancing at Galata Mevlevihanesi Müzesi in Istanbul Magzan doesn’t perceive as a simple photo story or a beautiful postcard. He explores the essential level of spirituality in the photograph of the dervish ritual dancing, not only as performance and sound but a spiritual journey and praise as a union of religious philosophy and the art of dance. Dervishes are true believers, an Islamic sect that gains a higher state of consciousness through the ecstasy of the hypnotic dance of ancient ritual. In black and white photography, the author takes the atmosphere, holds the visual presence, achieves the composition, and experience of the ritual dance.
– Draženka Jalšić Ernečić, quote from foreword for the exhibition Vizura 2020 – The Time of Extremes (ULUPUH)
