THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY_ENGLISH

Davut Bektas

Davut Bektas was born in Akuluk village near Adana in 1963. He attended the elementary school there and continued his education at the Imam – Hatip -school of Adana. In 1981, he was accepted to the law-school of Istanbul University and received his law degree in 1992. During high-school he got interested in the Art of Islamic calligraphy and decided to take classes When he arrived in Istambul at the end of 1981, to attend law school, he started Islamic calligraphy lessons with the late calligrapher Yusuf Ergun Erzincani. He studied the script Thuluth with this master for a short period of time. Meeting calligrapher Hassan Celebi in 1982, he started lessons with him in the scripts of Thuluth , Naskh and Riq’a . He received his Diploma (Ijaza) from his teacher in 1994. Examining the works of previous khattats , like Sami Efendi and Hamid Bey and benefiting from the works of contemporary khattats , Mr. Bektas has focused on the script of Jali Thuluth . Ugur Derman , an expert in Islamic calligraphy , gave him some copies of Sami Efendi’s Jali Thuluth writings . Mr. Bektas greatly benefited from this source as well as from Sevki Efendi’s Thuluth and Naskh works. These valuable sources have played a special role in the development of his art. Mr. Bektas, has also received lessons in the scripts of Taliq and Diwani from the late Prof. Ali Al Parslan between 2002 and 2005 .Currently Mr. Bektas is producing pieces of Islamic calligraphy and is teaching calligraphy classes at Suleymaniye Library and at the Classical Turkish Arts Foundation in Istanbul . He is also serving as a member of the jury in various calligraphy competitions.

Exhibitions Mr Bektas has participated in many Islamic calligraphy galleries and exhibitions in Turkey , Iran , Dubai, Egypt, Kuwait, Sharjah, Tunisia, Algeria, Qatar, UAE, South Africa, Spain and Saudi Arabia. List of Awards • First prize in Jali Thuluth and honorable mention award in the style of direct imitation at the International Islamic Calligraphy Competition IRCICA, 1986. • First prize in Jali Thuluth at the International Islamic Calligraphy Competition IRCICA, 1989. • First prize in Thuluth at the International calligraphy Competition IRCICA 1993. • First prize in the Islamic Festival – Tehran, 1997. • Award of success at the 2nd International Biennial for the art of Arabic Calligraphy in Sharjah, 2006. • In 1988, he received the first prize in the Islamic Calligraphy Competition organized as part of the Gulhane Festival in Istanbul. • In 1991, and 1992, he Participated in two competitions organized in Urfa and received the first prizes at both organizations.

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