So far, as we looked at Diyarbakır through the lenses of history, geography and socio-cultural life, we approached the city, within the region it’s located in and from an all-encompassing viewpoint. This central perspective, which was more pronounced in some of our exhibition titles, aimed to get closer to Diyarbakır’s truth via literary and visual preferences that took care to include all manners of diversity.
Now, with this new exhibition series that we have initiated with the title “The District Post”, we switch lenses: our new departure point is the districts of Diyarbakır that lie beyond the centre. With original narratives that will accumulate as we approach the individual parts, we hope to gain ground in our desire to attain the truth.
In this series, we will listen to the stories of different districts from writers and researchers who were born and grew up there. To prioritize voices from the inside will provide us with a viewpoint that enables us to compare the past and present in our treatment of each district and its history. Through a personal link to the region, we will be able to read these stories, at times like a letter written from that district, and at other times, we will wander from street to street with a well-versed guide. Ultimately, the story of the district and that of the author will blend.
In the first edition of “The District Post”, Dilawer Zeraq, the writer also known for his studies on the Kurdish language, adopts a poetic discourse to tell the story of Silvan, taking a personal route through the district. Writer and researcher Müslüm Üzülmez wrote a multi-layered text where he blended his deep knowledge of Ergani with personal records. Journalist Altan Sancar, one of the two directors of a documentary on the Armenian history of Eğil, took us on a trip both under and above water as he compared the lands he was born in with the present day under many headings.
In the second post, history teacher Süreyya Işık discusses Lice’s deep-rooted past, which has occasionally been disrupted by disasters, and Işık looks at the riches of her own Lice from the perspective of the present. Writer Muharrem Erbey, on the other hand, uses a personal narrative approach, weaving together memories, observations and impressions to describe Hazro, and takes us on a journey that follows the traces of geography in his writing.
“The District Post” will continue.
