Gunhan Bozkurt - Kaftans

KAFTANS

The kaftan, a garment of status, identity, and ceremony in Ottoman culture, stands at the heart of this collection of ceramic works. By reimagining its ornamental language on ceramic surfaces, I aim to transform this historical attire into a vessel of memory and continuity, allowing past aesthetics to resonate within contemporary form.

The kaftan — a symbol of status, identity, and ceremonial grandeur in Ottoman culture — is the central motif in this collection of ceramic works. Each piece translates the intricate patterns and embroidery of the kaftan into ceramic pigment on three-dimensional surfaces. Some designs reference Seljuk or other Ottoman motifs, creating a layered dialogue between periods, styles, and symbolic meanings. By transferring the kaftan’s ornamental language onto ceramic form, the work bridges garment and object, history and contemporary practice. The motifs and textures of the kaftan are not merely depicted but invite viewers to explore the intersection of artistry, craft, and cultural memory. In this interplay, each piece becomes both vessel and canvas, where the ceremonial and the sculptural coexist, and the visual poetry of Ottoman attire is brought into a new spatial and tactile dimension.