AMED TIMES - After retiring as a French teacher in 2003, Medyelioğulları started carving stone a year later in his small workshop in Sur. Over the past 20 years, he has created around 500 works, including miniatures of important architectural structures in the city such as a four-legged minaret, figures on historic walls, fountains, a mosque and a church. His most recent creation is a figure of Noah's Ark made from the basalt rock of the volcanic Karacadağ.
Medyelioğulları explained that the work was created spontaneously: "Sometimes the stone guides me in this work. I hadn’t thought of anything like this. I think about what I should do based on the stone I find at that moment. The stones stay in front of me for a while. I look at them, observe them and think: 'What can come of this? After a while, I realise what I am going to create. It was the same here. I moulded an edge of a rock so that it fitted into this shape. When something appeared that resembled a ship, I thought: 'Good, now I can make Noah's Ark. In Noah's Ark, figures of people, animals and various elements appeared. Of course, it’s not very clear, but I didn’t want it to be. I wanted it to have a different look
Working with stone is very difficult
Medyelioğulları, who had previously organised an exhibition in historical İçkale with the support of the Governor's Office, commented: "In the beginning, I made motifs and miniatures related to Diyarbakır. Then I started to create different things. Some stones were brought by friends and relatives, others I got myself. I had no problems finding stones for what I wanted to make. First I made the four-legged minaret. Then I made miniatures of important buildings in Diyarbakır, such as bell towers, walls and bastions. Working with stone is very difficult. I don’t use machines. Some pieces took me three months. The least time you spend on a piece is a week or ten days. I don’t know the exact number, but I have made over 500 pieces. Some are here, while others are stored in the museum's depot. They gave us a space there and we put on an exhibition. After that, I couldn’t bring them back here; most of them stayed in the depot."
I would like this work to have a museum and a workshop
Mahmut Nurettin Medyelioğulları emphasised that stone craftsmanship is a very demanding art and expressed his desire to pass on his art to future generations. He explained: "I have been saying for years that a museum and a training workshop should be opened. I want to set up a basalt stone museum in Sur. That’s why I'm not selling these works. I've been paying rent for the workshop for 20 years without it being worthwhile, but I'm not thinking of selling them. Because nobody will ever be able to collect so many works again. Besides what you see here, there's more in storage. I would like the relevant institutions, especially the Ministry of Culture, the Governor's Office, the municipalities, the universities and our business people, to provide me with a suitable space where I can exhibit these works and provide education at the same time."
