Disappearing crafts brought back to life in book

A newly published book sponsored by the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) aims to revive these crafts with the paintings of Mehmet Ali Diyarbakırlıoğlu along with his narration of his childhood memoirs of these disappearing crafts and brief interviews with “the last masters.”

“My father was a saddler. One of our neighbors was both a hancı [innkeeper] and a blacksmith. Another neighbor was a tinsmith. … I knew all these crafts well -- their masters, the equipment they used and the environment surrounding them. My generation was not unfamiliar with these crafts. Some of them are about to disappear. I began doing more research on these crafts when I realized that the next generations will never be able to learn about them,” Diyarbakırlıoğlu says in the introduction of the book as he explains the motives behind his work.

The artist says he decided to make paintings of these crafts in the early ’90s because he thought he knew them closely, not just the crafts but even the jokes among the craftsmen. “There was neither a comprehensive written work on their crafts nor visual material about them until then. It was 1991 when I began my first paintings. … I made my goal informing the audience about their crafts and their equipment while I was transferring the masters and their work to my canvass,” he notes.

The journey of Diyarbakırlıoğlu’s comprehensive book, titled “Kaybolan Meslekler ve Son Ustalar” (Disappearing Crafts and Last Craftsmen), depicting nearly 40 old crafts, began in 2007 upon a proposal by Zeliha Aslan, the editor-in-chief of İtovizyon, the monthly publication of the İTO. Afterwards, Diyarbakırlıoğlu began writing on these crafts. The book brings together information on the history of these disappearing occupations as well as their place in the public life and Diyarbakırlıoğlu’s paintings.

“The traces left by ‘the last masters’ will never be erased from the world we live in and will not get lost by the impression of cultural degeneration. Just like the beauty brought by the simplicity in their lives and occupation inspired us, they will continue to inspire our children as well. Their crafts, which they perfected with their elbow grease, devotion and skills, inspired my paintings, writings and this book. They made our lives easier and more beautiful with the things they produced with their equipment and skilled knowledge and put into the service of humanity. Their experiences, knowledge and skills have been the beginning steps of today’s civilization. They took us from the primitive life to today’s modern world. In fact, their existence in the past set the beginning of today. What we will do will be based on what they bequeathed to us,” Diyarbakırlıoğlu says in his appreciation and gratitude for the past and for the last masters of these crafts.

İTO Chairman Murat Yalçıntaş says in the foreword of the book that Diyarbakırlıoğlu’s work will prevent these disappearing crafts from being forgotten. “We did not want these crafts, which have not resisted time and change, to disappear. We wanted them to at least be alive on the pages of this book, to be explored by future generations. Esteemed writer and artist Diyarbakırlıoğlu has made our dream come true,” Yalçıntaş writes.

‘Being unable to see a master again’

In the book Diyarbakırlıoğlu dedicates nearly eight pages to each craft and gives information about how the craft emerged, where it was popular, which equipment it requires and how it is done. He also reports on his interviews with the “last masters,” most of whom were the models in his paintings. One of these is the tinsmith Mehmet Usta (master) in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, Diyarbakırlıoğlu’s hometown. “There was Mehmet Usta, whose shop was along Saray Street in Gaziantep. He was working in a shop of three to four square meters next to the Zincirli Bedesten [a covered bazaar]. He was my model in a painting I made in 1991, ‘Tenekeci Mehmet Usta.’ He was among the last masters. I recently heard that he was too ill to go outside his home and had quit his occupation. I make a brief visit to the models of my paintings whenever I go to Gaziantep. I cannot explain what kind of a feeling it was to be unable to see yet another one of them,” the artist says. Noting that Mehmet Usta was repairing a small boat he had made for his son when he last saw him, Diyarbakırlıoğlu says he was excited to see a similar tin boat at the Rahmi Koç Museum in İstanbul years later.

Köşkerlik: a craft searching for its past

One of the crafts narrated and depicted by Diyarbakırlıoğlu is köşkerlik, which refers to the occupation of shoe repairing and yemeni and çarık -- traditional leather sandal -- sewing. Stating that köşkerlik was one of the past’s most important crafts, Diyarbakırlıoğlu says that just like many other crafts it was also defeated by technology and is on the verge of becoming obsolete. Çarık and yemeni were the two leading products of the köşkers, but there are currently few artisans producing yemeni and çarık in Turkey. Köşkers have a special place for Diyarbakırlıoğlu since one of the last köşkers was his model for two paintings depicting the master of a disappearing craft. Diyarbakırlıoğlu animatedly explains how he met him in Gaziantep.

“It was July 1992. The noon’s hot weather was wreaking havoc on the city. I was driving when a köşker along the street caught my eye. He was like a tableau with his clothes, posture, colors and style. It was like he was telling me, ‘draw me.’ I passed him by since I had to hurry. The next day I took my camera and headed to that street. I took a seat at a restaurant opposite his shop and told the owner that I was going to photograph the köşker. ‘Of course you can. But that old man does not like being photographed. Be careful, he should not see you,’ he told me. I set up my camera and began waiting for him. Soon after I arrived he came, wearing his overalls, took his equipment and sat down in his chair. It could not have been better if I had set up the scene. I was continuously pressing the shutter. For a moment, I noticed that he saw me. He was warning me by waving his finger. I left there but I had already got what I wanted,” he says.