Paris-based Turkish artist: We have to fight our own demons

Three decades ago, in the wake of 1980 military coup, İsmail Yıldırım left Turkey to go to Paris, via Lebanon. He also helped his friend and prison-mate Yılmaz Güney, the award-winning Turkish director and actor, to escape. Despite Yıldırım’s flight, however, his mind and his paintings remained firmly on Turkey and Turkish issues.

“We all fight our own demons,” he said at the opening of an exhibition of his paintings at Galeri A in İzmir in western Turkey. “I am in Paris and likely to remain there. But most of my paintings, what I read and what I draw, are about Turkey.”

The paintings on the walls of the gallery, an old Greek house that somehow escaped the Great Fire of Izmir in 1923 and the brutal replacement of old houses with seven-storey apartments, confirm his words. Paintings with faces and figures against a dark background, with slashes of red and orange, are part of a series titled “Sivas” – in reference to the brutal burning of 35 people, mostly Alevi intellectuals, who had gathered for a cultural festival in Sivas, by a fanatic mob in 1993. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/paris-based-turkish-artist-we-have-to-fight-our-own-demons.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106280&NewsCatID=385

Romantic landscapes of Felix Ziem at Pera Museum

Pera Museum’s “Félix Ziem: Wanderer on the Sea of Light” exhibition presents the works of one most original landscape painters of the 19th century: Félix Ziem.

The exhibition focuses on Ziem as an artist who left his mark on 19th century painting and who is mostly known for his paintings of Istanbul and Venice, where the city and the sea are intertwined. 

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Musée Ziem in Martigues, is curated by Lucienne Del’Furia and Frédéric Hitzel.

Ziem’s oil paintings stand out with their lively colors and the artist’s effort to capture the flickering effects of the continuously changing light by using a rapid and dynamic brush style. The exhibition illustrates the reasons why he was hailed as a forerunner of impressionism and as a pre-impressionist; his stylistic relationship with artists like Monet is quite evident. 

His drawings exemplify his creative process and present new angles into his work. They also encourage us to rediscover the city of Istanbul through his perspective. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/romantic-landscapes-of-felix-ziem-at-pera-museum.aspx?pageID=238&nID=105961&NewsCatID=385

journal des tulipes

Bonjour,

Aujourd'hui la tulipe VERY CHIC vous parle:

admirez ma robe, mes belles couleurs, mon port "so chic" ! Quelle élégante je fais avec mon alternance de rose et de vert !!
je me nomme "very chic" et avouez que je porte bien mon nom. Pour me voir de près et m'acheter, rendez-vous fin avril/début mai auprès des Lions de St Germain en Laye Château le week-end. Vous comblerez celle à qui vous m'offrirez et vous ferez une bonne action car le bénéfice va tout droit à l'institut Gustave Roussy.
A bientôt.

Research uncovers Lycian roads in Antalya monument

Under the light of the pillar of the Monument of the Roads, which is considered one of the world’s oldest road maps, showing roads built by the Roman Emperor Claudius in Lycia, 21 out of 63 roads have been so far been uncovered by archeologists. 

Akdeniz University Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures Professor Eda Akyürek Şahin said she and a team of academics were working on the research on the Roman roads in Lycia and Pamphylia. 

Şahin said they took over the research after the death of her husband Professor Sencer Şahin in 2014. Work was first initiated in 2004 within the scope of the Stadiasmus Patarensis in Patara, also known as the Stadiasmus Provinciae Lyciae and the Miliarium Lyciae. 

The Akdeniz University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit, Koç University, the Suna and İnan Kıraç Mediterranean Civilizations Research Center and Patara excavations head Professor Havva İşkan Işık also contribute to the research, she said. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/research-uncovers-lycian-roads-in-antalya-monument-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106144&NewsCatID=375

Klaros on way to becoming faith tourism center

photo AA
Findings obtained during archaeological excavations in Klaros, one of the world’s oldest oracle centers in the Menderes district of the western Turkish province of İzmir, are contributing to the development of faith tourism. 

The head of the Klaros excavations, Professor Nurdan Şahin, said excavations had been continuing with intervals in Klaros since its discovery in 1907. 

Şahin noted that Klaros was also one of the centers of pagan belief in the 13th century B.C. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/klaros-on-way-to-becoming-faith-tourism-center-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106233&NewsCatID=375

Egypte: découverte d'une momie intacte près de Louxor

"La très belle momie, recouverte d'un cartonnage (couches de lin tenues par du plâtre) est en très bon état"

 

 

Des archéologues espagnols ont découvert une momie pharaonique pluri-millénaires "en très bon état", dans une tombe près de Louxor, dans le sud de l'Egypte, a annoncé dimanche le ministère des Antiquités.

La découverte a été faite près du "temple des millions d'années" construit par un pharaon de la 18ème dynastie, Thoutmosis III (1479-1425 av. J.C) sur la rive ouest de Louxor, véritable musée à ciel ouvert à 700 kilomètres au sud du Caire.

"La très belle momie, recouverte d'un cartonnage (couches de lin tenues par du plâtre, ndlr) est en très bon état", selon un communiqué du ministère des Antiquités.

La momie a été retrouvée dans un sarcophage en bois aux couleurs vives, dans une tombe qui pourrait dater de la troisième période intermédiaire (1075 à 664 av.J.C.) et dont le propriétaire serait un homme de la noblesse, Amenrenef, portant le titre de "serviteur de la maison royale", d'après le texte.

Le cartonnage de la momie "présente de nombreuses décorations colorées qui reprennent des symboles religieux de l'Egypte antique, telles que les déesses Isis et Nephtys déployant leurs ailes, ou encore les quatre fils d'Horus", selon la chef de la mission archéologique, Myriam Seco Álvarez.

Louxor, ville du sud de l'Egypte qui compte 500.000 habitants, est célèbre pour ses temples pharaoniques sur les bords du Nil.AFP

 

Old Christian center to be unearthed in Turkey’s south

DHA photo
MERSİN – Doğan News Agency
Works have been initiated by Istanbul University in the ancient field of Aya Tekla, one of the oldest centers of Christianity.

The university will carry out a surface survey at the ancient site, located in the southern province of Mersin’s Silifke district. 

During 10 days of work, a research group consisting of academics and post-graduate students will measure and photograph a cistern structure for the first time. They will also work on two other cisterns that were discovered in previous years. 

The head of the research team, Umut Almaç, said their work would reveal the problems in protection and bring proposals for solutions to current issues. 

“The data we obtain from this work will be reported to the ministry. We also plan to present a report during the 39th International Excavation Research and Archeometry Symposium in May 2017. We are seeking sponsors in order to have more people in the research team,” Almaç said. 

Situated four kilometers from the Silifke center, the ancient site of Aya Tekla is known as one of the oldest and most important centers for Christianity. Tecla was a saint of the early Christian church and a follower of Paul the Apostle, himself from the nearby town of Tarsus, which has retained the same name since antiquity. 

The cave where Tecla lived became a secret pilgrimage site for Christians until 312 A.D. when Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire. The cave was then turned into a church in the fourth century. The church and other buildings around such as the cistern and the ruins of city walls have drawn attention from tourists.

Festival on Wheels to hit the road for the 22nd time in Turkey

It’s that time of the year again, when one of Turkey’s oldest film festivals, the Festival on Wheels, gets ready to take on the road for two weeks. The festival will kick off in Ankara on Nov. 25, staying in the capital for a week before traveling to Eskişehir from Dec. 2 to 4 and ending its journey in the northern province of Kastamonu, staying there from Dec. 5 to 7.

Running its 22nd edition and organized by Ankara Cinema Association, the Festival on Wheels once again will screen latest award-winners in its “World Cinema” and “Turkey 2016” sections. Two of the highlights of World Cinema will be Maren Ade’s film sensation of the year, “Toni Erdmann,” the winner of the 2016 Fipresci Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and Germany’s official submission for the Foreign Language Oscar, and Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson”, his take on a bus driver named Paterson in the city of Paterson, New Jersey.

The “Turkey 2016” section will screen debut features from Mehmet Can Mertoğlu’s “Albüm” (Album), an absurdist take on a couple adopting a baby, and Kıvanç Sezer’s “Babamın Kanatları” (My Father’s Wings), a realistic look at employer-worker relations and perilous working conditions. Having made its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, the co-directors Soner Caner and Barış Kaya of “Rauf” will also meet audiences in this section.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/festival-on-wheels-to-hit-the-road-for-the-22nd-time-in-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106333&NewsCatID=381