I have just started my second course
Exploring Ideas with Open Collage of Arts (OCA) and this Blog will be my
earning log, recording my experiences, thoughts ideas, trials and tribulations through
the course.
First Assignment is about exploring
textiles in other cultures, researching, trying and testing techniques and
styles of culture of your choice. There is so much to choose from. But I decided to dive into my
own heritage: a combination of Circassian and Turkish/Ottoman textiles.
I am of Circassian origin (people of north
Caucasia mountains by the Black Sea in Russia) but I was born in Turkey. My
great great granddad was forced to move out after a brutal war with Russian Empire
ended badly in 1884. He had to leave his war-wrecked country and settled in
wherever Ottomans said it ok to settle. There in the middle of Anatolia he made
home and his family lived there for generations. Over the millennia Anatolia
has been a refuge to many people coming from all over the world, a melting pot
of civilizations. This diversity is reflected in the culture, architecture,
literature and art.
You may think I know the culture
well so it should be an easy ride. But I already feel confused with mixed emotions about this choice.
In my previous blog (http://saadetstextiles.blogspot.co.uk), I explained that, I wasn’t interested in
textiles when growing up despite the fact that my mum is an excellent craftsperson
and a tailor. I used to think these techniques were designed to pin
women inside their home. Little feminist in me though these practises were part of
patriarchal structure confining women to “home-making”. I rather wanted to go
to movies, read Simon de Beauvoir and Sartre and think about existentialism. Now I realize that crafts are not to blame; it
is the context in which these are exercised is problematic (which I may write about
later). Repeating traditional techniques without self-expression or a new
interpretation cannot be liberating. I think this was bothering me. Now I am ready
to re-visit these techniques my mum tried to teach me decades ago and try to employ them in the context more relevant to me.
For this project my main visual
source will come from the embroidery and crochet pieces my mum produced in
1950- 1960s and used during my childhood (70s). This is important to me. I also will
welcome other visual sources from my two part research: Ottoman/Turkish
textiles and Circasian Textiles. Next post I will go in detail about my findings. But here are
some taster images:
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| Kaftan of Sultan Selim I - year 1515 |
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| 17th Century Embroidered cover - from pinterest.com/saadet/ottoman-turkish-textiles/ |
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| Traditional Circassian Woman Clothes from http://circasvoices.blogspot.co.uk |
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| http://circasvoices.blogspot.co.uk |
“Turkish Embroidery” by Pauline Johnstone,
V&A Publications, 1985. This book gives a brief history of the pieces in
V&A collections.
‘Beginner’s Guide to Ottoman Embroidery’,
Joyce I Ross, Search Press, 2005. This is a more technical book explaining the
many stiches commonly used in Ottoman embroidery and providing with some
projects to try yourself.
I have the book from the “The Turks: A
Journey of a thousand years 600-1600” exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts in
2005 which is full of carpets, kilims, sultan kaftans, tiles, wood and metal
work samples. Also this pinterest page is also interesting: https://uk.pinterest.com/saadet/ottoman-turkish-textiles/
For Circassian textiles, the research is
tricky. There is not awful a lot of sources that can be referenced reliably. I have a book: “Circassian culture and Folklore”, A
Jaimoukha, , Beent and Bloom, 2010’ but
it is not very rich in visual or textiles examples. I found these two blog posts useful:
I am hoping to visit The Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations in Ankara during my visit in August and hopefully I can find much more. And
a visit to V&A on my return looks like a must, too.
