Oktay Rifat, October 1984. Photo: Cengiz Cıva.
A Garip (Peculiar) Man that Aired Out Our Lives
Oktay Rifat (1914 – 1988)
“On a hot summer’s day, a middle-aged villager approached me to ask for directions. He was wearing a shabby coat, a jacket underneath the coat, a vest underneath the jacket, and a buttoned-up colorless shirt underneath the vest. ‘I’ll show you the way, but you take off that coat first!’ He took it off. ‘Now take off the jacket!’ He did as well. ‘And now the vest!’ Off came the vest. ‘Unbutton your shirt!’ He undid them. ‘Pull up your sleeves!’ He pulled them up. ‘This is the way to the palace you are looking for,’ I said. He just walked away. He looked back a few times as he walked away. Long story short: The Garip movement is, above all, a movement of airing things out.”
– Oktay Rifat
Orhan Veli, Şinasi Baray, Oktay Rifat, Melih Cevdet, Ankara, 1930´s.
Oktay Rifat’s typewriter.
Oktay Rifat, Untitled, 1983. Oil on hardboard. Rifat Family Collection.
The exhibition Republic: New Individual New Life can be seen free of admissions until 17th May.