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Dear Jean-Marie, there is so much information in your pictures. Where else could we so conveniently find it? Tell me, what was the inspiration for this work on the traditional costumes from this part of the world?
@ Thelma: As so many things in life, it started by coincidence/chance, in the years 1978-'82. In 1978 I visited Turkey for the first time (a self-organized trip), and was charmed by the country. I also realised that, if I were to go again, I had to speak (some) Turkish. So, I contacted Turkish migrant workers in my neighbourhood (Antwerp). Through one of these 'teachers' I got in contact with a social center that was working for and with Moroccan and Turkish immigrant families, where I soon engaged (as a volunteer at first, and as a regular employee some time later). In my job as youth educator, during a summer camp with 'our' children, I lead folk dance sessions (western European and Balkan folk dance - and teaching them - had been one of my hobbies for many years allready). A few of the participants (young Turkish girls) were members of a beginning folk dance group, wanting to show their (parents') 'home culture' during small cultural events in the city; but they only knew the dances from their village and wanted me to teach them other dances from Turkey. Which were not in my programm at the time... So, I started taking lessons (in Brussels, and in Holland), what resulted in (about) twenty different dances learned. Enough to start, both teaching the girls, and (in a separate course) grown-ups too (Turks, and Belgian lovers of folk dance). After six months of weekly lessons, the grown-up group proposed to start a regular Turkish folk dance group (training for and making appearances too). That was in 1982: the 'Kavak Folklor Ekibi' got started. The next summer, our Turkey trip (of my friend/co-founder of the 'Folklor Ekibi', two of our lady members, and me) had a mixed touristic/cultural/folk dance contents, with dancing activities/lessons in Artvin, Diyarbakır and Ankara.
As the repertoire of the dance group grew with the years, so did the number of appearances. As we realized that this (hobby) activity had a real impact of cultural ambassadorship of the Turkish culture(s), in 1986 we decided to purchase full authentic costumes to be used on stage, instead of the workshop-made copies we were wearing up to then. Collecting this authentic material (both dances and costumes) - since in Anatolia each region/people have their own characteristics - made us enter the rich world of Anatolian ethnography, which we are still exploring to-day (until 2006 by touring Turkey, and since then by surfing the Internet and peeling the information found).
I hope this gives you an idea how we got involved in our work on Anatolian costumes.
With kind regards, JM.
Dear Jean-Marie, Thank you so much for this. It's fascinating to hear how the story unfolds and develops from the first impact .. and I expect there is still much to do. No wonder the collection is so well established. I wonder whether there is anywhere in Turkey or elsewhere where one can find a similar resource on this subject. Many congratulations on what you managed to bring about.