Documentary on the life of small village painter known as 'Picasso with a shalwar'

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Ayfer Bozkurt held an interview with students for their documentary film.

A woman living in Ankara’s Tekke village and known as “Picasso with a shalwar” and the “villager painter” has become the subject of a new documentary film by a group of university students.

“We learned that [Ayfer Bozkurt] uses printing ink when she cannot find dye, and uses her hair when she cannot find a brush. This really impressed us so we decided to make a documentary about it,” said Cemal Gültepe, one of the 10 students from Erciyes University’s Faculty of Communications, Radio and Television involved in the documentary project.

Bozkurt has no formal painting education. The students conducted video shots in Bozkurt’s village and the workshop where she works, as well as interviews with her and her family.

He said they filmed Bozkurt while she worked in the fields and garden, taking animals out to pasture and milking the cows. The team ultimately emerged with a 16-minute documentary following two months of work. “We plan to send it to documentary competitions,” Gültepe said.