19.09.2018
Kuveyt Türk in Brussels 9th Edition of Comic Strip Festival with its miniature exhibition of Mantıku’t-Tayr–Song of Birds that had been displayed last year to the arts lovers and the children story book named Song of Birds inspired by that exhibition.
Carrying out pioneering works in a bid to sustain the cultural heritage and hand it down to the next generations, Kuveyt Türk in cooperation with Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation Women, Family and Youth Center (KAGEM) has attended Brussels Comic Strip Festival where the world-famous characters such as Tintin, Red Kit, Smurfs are exhibited.
Kuveyt Türk and KAGEM has been invited by Brussels Yunus Emre Institute to the festival hosting more than 250 sequential artists and visited by around 100 thousand peoples each year. At the festival, Kuveyt Türk has enjoyed great interest and attraction from the visitors for its miniature exhibition of Mantıku’t-Tayr – Song of Birds that had been displayed last year to the arts lovers in Istanbul and the children story book named Song of Birds inspired by that exhibition.
Brussels Comic Strip Festival has been attended by Emre Memiş, Kuveyt Türk Corporate Communications Director, Özcan Özcan, the artist who has painstakingly worked for two years with his team for the Mantıku’t-Tayr miniature exhibition, Arzu Akbulut and İsmet Gömeç, the miniature artists, and Ayşenur Kapusuz, Istanbul Branch Office Coordinator of Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation’s KAGEM and also the author of the kid story book the Song of Birds. At the festival, open for three days, Özcan Özcan and Arzu Akbulut have held a workshop for Introduction to Art of Miniature. Together with his team members, Özcan Özcan has signed his book the Song of Birds while Arzu Akbulut delivered a presentation over Turkish art of miniature in memory of 2018 Cultural Heritage Year.
As 2018 is proclaimed the European Cultural Heritage Year, a large number of artists conveying traditional lines to present have been invited to the event. Besides Türkiye, the artists representing Bask Region, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Romania attended the EUNIC (EU Cultural Institutes) stand at the international pavillion.
Birds’ Journey to Simurg made into the exhibition and book
Written by Iranian man of letters and mystic Feridüddin Attar, the work entitled
Mantiku’t Tayr (Song of the Birds or Birds Language) is recognized as one of the prominent works of sufi literature. The book consisting of 4 thousand 724 couplets in the masnawi style features the adventure of the birds taking the bird hoopoe or Hüdhüd as their guide for their challenging journey to find the sultan. Hüdhüd would guide the birds to Simurg, their sultan living behind the Mount Qaf. Realizing that the journey would be challenging and dangerous, the birds ask questions on different matters stating their excuse and convince Simurg to give up from the journey. But, Hüdhüd try to convince them by narrating short stories and anecdotes for taking lessons
Based on that work, Kuveyt Türk held the miniature exhibition titled Mantıku’t Tayr / Song of Birds last year. The exhibition that come after two-year workshop efforts of the miniature artist Özcan Özcan and his team member is about seven stages that must be overcome by Simurg signifying the ultimate union and human desire with 30 birds each featuring a different human character. The author Ayşenur Kapusuz inspired by the rare works displayed at this exhibition has written the kid story book the Song of Birds.