In person, Ali Kazma is not unlike his camerawork—steady and focused. Clad in forest-green rimmed glasses and stylish, tailored attire, the midcareer artist from Istanbul—now based in Paris—moves with poise and thought. In his films, totaling around 70 productions, Kazma often uses a still lens to accentuate his subject’s movements. His framing frequently juxtaposes static shots of landscapes, photographs, machines, or book pages with people moving through everyday actions, such as walking through interiors or stamping documents, repeating gestures ad infinitum. 

Since the beginning of his practice, Kazma’s attentive eye has been directed at trades and crafts that typically remain backstage, prompting reflections on production, consumption, and human labor. Back in Istanbul in preparation for his solo exhibition at Istanbul Modern, the artist spoke to me about his recent preoccupations—a shift from craftsmanship to intellectual labor—the seeds of which had in fact been sown long ago.