NEWS CENTER - We get to know Nasra Şimmeshindi, also known as Granny Nasra, who is one of the last artists of the traditional art of printing and Syriac motive needlepoint.

 

The stone house in which Nasra Şimmeshindi was born and lived, who was born in 1924 in Mardin and devoted nearly a century of life to her art by embroidering printed motive inherited from her family, is also the workshop where she produced her works. Nasra, who was married at the age of 14, started to weave carpets and rugs at a young age, as well as to keep the Syriac painting art alive with the printing she learned from her father and uncle with her efforts.

 

Nasra, who uses pencil in her works and tries to use very few molds, uses special chemical-free madder. Although her five children are scattered around the world, she prefers to stay in Mardin by saying "I cannot live outside of Mardin, I will consider myself a prisoner if I stay away from Mardin". Nasra could not learn Turkish because she never went to school. The illiterate Nasra knows only Arabic.

 

An example of genocide and elimination policies: Victimization of mother tongue

 

Some people make long journeys from many parts of the world to Mardin to see Granny Nasra, whose name and motives spread all over the world. Nasra explains the reason why she could not speak Turkish with those who visited; "Our Syriac schools were closed during my time and my father did not send me to Turkish schools. Everyone spoke Arabic in Mardin, and I learned Arabic."

With her talent, Nasra performs her art by embroidering cloths using wooden molds left by her father, brushes and madder, which she has not changed for 50 years. Nasra's motives for biblical depictions, church curtains, tablecloths, wall decorations, and cradle cloths are still used in many Syriac churches and venues, including America, the Middle East, and Europe.

 

Bearer of culture of the Syriac and Mesopotamian peoples

 

The Virgin Mary, Saints, Angels, Jesus, 12 apostles, the birth of Jesus, his last supper, his crucifixion, figures of the ancient Syriac and Mesopotamian peoples on curtains and manuscripts which all cultures come to life with her motives, Nasra works non-stop.

 

Granny Nasra describes her love for her job as follows; “I love my job very much. If I did not like it, I would not work, day and night. I love my job enough to forget about food. I will work until I die."

 

'To leave a sign from Şimmeshindi'

 

It is known that Nasra, who only taught her art to her grandchildren, did not teach her art from her father and learned the profession by completely passing through her father's drawings and stenciling the patterns with her efforts. Nasra, who donated a few of her molds to the Mardin Museum, says "I pressed my father's patterns not only on fabrics but also on the stairs. To tell the oral history of Mardin and the language of Syriac motives and leave a sign from Şimmeshindi."

 

She said, "If I die one day, I will leave behind my molds and brushes made of walnut and pear trees fifty or even a hundred years ago from my father." Nasra Şimmeshindi, one of the last masters of nearly half a century of art life and needlepoint, passed away on April 27, 2016, at the age of 92 in Mardin, where she loved very much.

 

Photograph: İlknur Nina Uluğ