Mari Gerekmezyan

An haifi Mari Gerekmezyan a ƙauyen Talas a Kayseri,ɗaukar Usmaniyya.Ta halarci makarantar firamare ta ƙasar Armeniya ta Vart Basrig.Ta koma Istanbul inda ta halarci makarantar Yesyan Armenian. Yayin da yake karatu a Yesyan, Gerekmezyan ya sami damar ganawa da fitaccen marubucin Turkiyya Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar.Tanpınar ya zaburar da Gerekmezyan don neman digiri a falsafar. Za ta ci gaba da karatu a Jami'ar Istanbul . Za ta zama bako ɗalibi a sashen sassaka sassa na Jami'ar Mimar Sinan Fine Arts(tsohon Fine Arts Academy, Istanbul)inda Bedri Rahmi Eyüpoğlu ke aiki a matsayin mataimaki.Ta yi bugu. A Kwalejin,mashahurin ɗan wasan Jamus Rudolf Belling ne ya koyar da ita.

Gerekmezyan ya kasance malamin fasaha da harshen Armeniya a makarantar Getronagan Armeniya da Makarantun Esayan da ke Istanbul.Ta kuma koyar a makarantar firamare ta Arti Gırtaran da ke Istanbul wadda har yanzu a bude take.

A cikishekarar n 1946,Gerekmezyan ya kama cutar sankarau.Sakamakon yakin duniya na biyu da ya kare,magani ya yi tsada sosai.Bedri Rahmi ya sayar da yawancin zane-zanensa amma bai iya ceton Gerekmezyan ba.Gerekmezyan ya mutu a shekara ta 1947 yana da shekaru 35. An binne ta a makabartar Sisli Armeniya.

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu ta fara sha ne bayan rasuwarta.A cikin 1949,lokacin da yake karanta waƙar Karadut a Büyük Kulüp sai ya fashe da kuka.Matarsa,Eren Eyüboğlu,ta bar gidansu ta fara zama a Faransa.Matarsa da ’ya’yansa za su koma wurinsa daga baya amma matarsa ba ta manta da hakan ba.

Yawancin ayyukan Gerekmezyan sun ɓace.Ana samun ragowar ayyukanta a cikin Resim ve Heykel Müzesi(Museum of Painting and Sculpture)a Istanbul da kuma cikin Tarin Masu zaman kansu na Iyalin Eyüboğlu wanda ya haɗa da sanannen bust ɗinta na Bedri Rahmi. Wasu daga cikin shahararrun ayyukan Mari Gerekmezyan sun haɗa da:

• Tushen Prof.Neşet Ömer(1943)
• Bust na Farfesa Şekip Tunç(1943)
• Masks na Patrik Mesrob Tin(1944)
• Bust of Yahya Kemal Beyatlı(1945)
• Bust na Bedri Rahmi Eyübğlu

Gerekmezyan was awarded the Ankara Sculpture Exhibit Award for her Busts of Professor Neşet Omer and Professor Şekip Tunç in 1943.She earned the First Place Award at the Ankara State Fine Arts Exhibit for her Bust of poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı in 1945.

While Gerekmezyan was a guest student at the sculpture division of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University(formerly Fine Arts Academy, Istanbul),where she met Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.Throughout the 1940s, Gerekmezyan assisted Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu in his artwork.The two would eventually fall in love.Their relationship is compared to the likes of Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel.Gerekmezyan had sculpted many busts of Eyüboğlu and Eyüboğlu likewise drew many sketches of Gerekmezyan.

Eyüboğlu wrote his famous poem Karadut (Mulberry)for Mari Gerekmezyan after her death:

Turkish language:

Karadut
Karadutum, çatal karam, çingenem
Nar tanem, nur tanem, bir tanem
Ağaç isem dalımsın salkım saçak
Petek isem balımsın ağulum
Günahımsın, vebalimsin.
Dili mercan, dizi mercan, dişi mercan
Yoluna bir can koyduğum
Gökte ararken yerde bulduğum
Karadutum, çatal karam, çingenem
Daha nem olacaktın bir tanem
Gülen ayvam, ağlayan narımsın
Kadınım, kısrağım, karımsın.

English translation:
Mulberry
My black mulberry, my forked darky, my Gypsy,
My grain of pomegranate, my grain of light, my only one;
I am a tree, my limbs, a porch hanging with grapes,
I am a hive, you are my honey, my bitter honey,
My sin, my ague.
Tongue of coral, teeth of coral, thighs of oyster,
I gave you a life, my wife,
My black mulberry, my forked darky, my Gypsy,
What more will you be to me, my odd one, queer one,
My smiling quince, my weeping pomegranate,

My baby, my mare, my wife.

When he first read the poem in public, Eyüboğlu cried.It is believed that Eyüboğlu continued to love Gerekmezyan the rest of his life.The poem would become popular as it was incorporated into Cem Karaca's song Karadut.

The Getronagan Armenian High School in Istanbul hosted an exhibition for Mari Gerekmezyan in December 2012, organized by famed Armenian-Turkish photographer Ara Güler.