Painter portrays plight of quake survivors in watercolor

KIRIKKALE

A painter living in the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale draws paintings of heartbreaking moments from the Kahramanmaraş-centered quakes and displays them on her wall, dedicating them to quake survivor children.

Şengül Otman, a 43-year-old painter living in Kırıkkale, paints historical structures and cultural assets in many provinces of the country with watercolor.

After the deadly Feb. 6 quakes, Otman, who has been painting for 20 years, made a watercolor drawing of a teddy bear lying in the rubble, taking inspiration from a photograph she saw online.

While expressing that when she started painting, she was touched most by the news of children’s toys being recovered from the rubble, Otman said she dedicates her paintings to all earthquake survivor children and wants this work to be delivered to the state archives.

Talking about her memories in the southeastern province of Hatay, which is now almost completely destroyed, Otman said that on the wall at her house where she displays her paintings, there is a painting of a coffee pot that carries great meaning for her, right above the portrayal of the rubble.

“That coffee pot is a picture of Turkish coffee cooked on embers, which is a fundamental part of Hatay’s culture. While I was painting it, I wandered those streets, drank Turkish coffee made in those embers, and chatted with those quake victims,” she said.

Meanwhile, stating that she also painted the narrowest street in the world in her hometown, the Central Anatolian province of Çorum, Otman said that the tradition of Ahis, or Ahi Brotherhood, is kept alive on that 1.5-meter street.

“All tradesmen are together there. There are many streets like this in Çorum. It is a very special province in that sense. Since it is also my hometown, I started painting that in order to keep all the beauties of the city alive and to transfer them to future generations, to create such awareness and to attract the attention of locals and foreign people,” Otman added.