Emine Erdoğan says solidarity lives on in women artisans’ skilled hands

Emine Erdoğan attended the opening of the “ÖZGÜ-Bize Özgü” exhibition at Rami Library, featuring works by 81 women artisans from 81 provinces. The 81 works, ranging from weaving and mother-of-pearl inlay to copperwork and puppetry, can be visited until November 30.

Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, attended the opening program of the “ÖZGÜ-Bize Özgü” exhibition at Rami Library in Istanbul. The exhibition brings together handmade works and life stories by 81 women artisans from Türkiye’s 81 provinces and was opened to visitors as part of the “Women Artisans Türkiye—81 Provinces, 81 Women, 81 Stories” program run by the AK Party’s General Headquarters Women’s Branch.

In a social media post about the program, Emine Erdoğan said, “In Anatolia, women have created countless works by sharing not only their art but also one another’s labor, patience and time. Today, this spirit of solidarity continues to live on in the skilled hands of our women artists and artisans.”

The video includes footage of Emine Erdoğan touring the exhibition area, examining the women artisans’ works and excerpts from her speech at the program. In her speech, Erdoğan said that a people’s collective memory is formed through a shared accumulation extending from folk songs to poetry and from folktales to motifs, adding, “We owe this richness to you women, the guardians of our cultural heritage.”

81 works from weaving to puppetry

The exhibition features 81 works created by women artisans from Türkiye’s seven geographical regions in fields including weaving, cloth making, mother-of-pearl inlay, knitting, copperwork and puppetry. Aiming to increase the visibility of women’s labor, preserve local production knowledge and support its transmission between generations, the exhibition presents each work together with its creator’s story.

Gülben İbrikçi, who came from Kavaklı in Muğla and is a fifth-generation representative of a family that has practiced coppersmithing for four generations, said she was working to pass the fading craft on to future generations. Ventriloquist puppet artist Rümeysa Korkut explained that making her designer puppets takes 20 to 30 days and said, “My biggest slogan on this journey is that no child should be left without a puppet.” Fashion designer İlknur Onur, representing Ankara, said they had prepared two outfits from sof fabric unique to Ankara.

The “ÖZGÜ-Bize Özgü” exhibition will be open to visitors at Hall F3 of Rami Library from November 6 to 30.

Photo and video: AA

Emine Erdoğan says solidarity lives on in women artisans’ skilled hands