THE HASANKEYF PRINT RUN
Size 57cm x 57cm. A limited edition of 50, hand pulled, relief prints, with added hand-work in charcoal and 24K gold leaf. A numbered copy of this print costs 75€. There are a small number of artist's proofs at 30€. To buy one please contact via email: cgym@mac.com
HOW THIS PROJECT CAME ABOUT
The inspiration for this work came from a photograph that a friend of his took while travelling in Eastern Turkey. When Alexander saw the image of the partly destroyed sculptural relief which comes from the side of the El-Rizk mosque, built in 1409, something from his inner-self felt compelled to work with this relief sculpture and in the process restore the damaged script with gold leaf.”
Alexander says, “I am hoping by making this multimedia print, that this 1409 remembrance of these noble humans will not be lost by the flooding of the Hasankeyf town."
HASANKEYF THE PLACE
People have called Hasankeyf home for 12,000 years, evidence of human habitation goes back to the Neolithic period. The Romans used it as a military bastion. Constantine the Great had the city fortified before it became the Byzantine Bishopric of Cephe. The Turkmen Artukid and Kurdish Ayyubid Islamic dynasties changed its name to Hisn Kaifa and developed a medieval Islamic capital, whose traces remain, but this will all disappear if authorities have their way. It is estimated that 80 percent of the ruins and Hasankeyf town will, by 2019, be submerged under 10.4 billion cubic meters of water held back by the Ilisu Dam.
GEOMETRIC KUFIC SCRIPT
The original sculptural relief was carved in a geometric form of Kufic script, which is one of the oldest forms of calligraphy. Some of the extant oldest Qu’rans were written in such. The inscription names Mohamed (peace be upon him) Abu bakr, Omar, Othman, Obaid, Talha, Sayed, Zubaid and Abdurahman, these men were some of the close companions of the last prophet.