Sartip Vim - Humans of Kurdistan

in Humans of North

“I am a graduate of Dicle University, department of elementary education. Since I never got employed, I opened a workshop and named it “Şewl û Xaraw.” At my workshop, I dry flowers and make them into paintings. At first, I was doing this work at home, but then I decided to open a workshop. This art is also like therapy for me. When I work, my body eases, and bad thoughts leave my mind. At first, I go to collect flowers from the wild. After I bring them home, I put them between book pages. They dehydrate, and I collect them all together. It is complicated work and requires patience. They should not absorb moisture from the air and must be kept in a dry place. Once the flowers dry, I take them to the workshop, and we think about how to make these flowers into paintings. Then, we design the flowers and put them into frames. Everything we do here is natural; we don’t use any chemicals in the process of drying the flowers. Moreover, we do not use adhesives either”. ...

Aug 11 2022

July 27, 2022

in Humans of East

“Previously, I was a photographer, the first certified woman photographer in Marivan. Now, I have a café shop; again, I’m the first female café shop owner in Marivan. I have always tried to prove that gender doesn’t determine the skills and abilities of people; men and women are equal in every aspect. Working on proving this in a patriarchal society that indoctrinates you from childhood, claiming that you are a woman and therefore ‘you cannot, it’s shameful and not possible,’ has not been an easy task. Women should be vigilant, act against oppression and enforcement, and thrive for freedom and independence. Working is the first step towards independence, a woman that works has her own vision, and a woman with vision won’t accept subjugation. I am a woman and hope for a just and equal society in all aspects”. ...

Aug 11 2022

August 7, 2022

in Humans of West

“I’m 60 years old and live with my sick mother in Ma’shwq village, Tarbesbeh subdistrict. In the village, they call me “The Kurdish Girl” because I always wear traditional Kurdish clothes, and sometimes I sew them myself. In the year 2000, I went to Europe, and I saw how the European care about their history; when I came back in 2005, I decided to collect and preserve antiques. As for now, I purchase old antiques and display them in a shop that has become an exhibition for hundreds of historical pieces, and sometimes I go to the villages and collect new pieces from there. My father is Kurdish, and my mother is Syriac; in this regard, I keep a balance between the Syriac and Kurdish pieces that I collect. I opened this exhibition to prevent the loss of our rich and old history”. ...

August 1, 2022

“If a human is born in a hedge even, they’ll still be attached to it. I was born in this house, this might not mean much for people, but for me, every corner of this house holds hundreds of memories. I spent my childhood and teenage years in that room. Since the building was old, it was crumbling and deteriorating. And because we were renting the house, we could not renovate the place; eventually, we left on the landlord’s demand. I have rented another house near this one; it is enough for me to see it every day and not lose sight of it. It is not easy to live your whole life in a house and see them demolishing it in front of your eyes. Every afternoon, I gaze at the front gate and remember my mother waiting for my father, and from the end corner of the alley, my father would appear holding bags in both hands”. ...

Aug 11 2022

August 10, 2022

“The streets are my dwelling place all day long. My living depends on people buying these shoes from me. This musician here makes me jovial as much as people buying shoes from me! This friend has made everyone hooked on music. It is at a point that if we don’t hear music for a day, we would feel that something is missing. Sometimes, he gets annoyed because he plays day long, and people are still not ready to help him with some change. I try not to let him lose heart, and I’m ready to help him by any means. Sometimes, I have told buyers that I’d discount some for them in return to give some money to the brother for his music.” ...

Aug 03 2022

August 3, 2022

“I was ten years old in the 80s when I used to come here to fish with my father and brothers. Since I was raised near Dukan Lake, our life depended on fishing, so I also became a fisherman. We are a family of seven, and we rely on fishing. Fishing needs a lot of knowledge and experience; the fisher must be patient and quick to react. Sometimes, it comes down to luck; there were days I didn’t catch any, and some other days I caught up to 50 kilos of fish. I remember fish weighing 150 kilos being caught in this lake, and I have personally caught fish by hook, that weighed more than 30 kilos in this lake. Unfortunately, the fish population has lessened in Dukan now because of cruel methods of fishing that some people use, such as blast fishing and electric shock”. ...

Mar 16 2022

March 16, 2022