An exhibition of the sensationally beautiful botanical drawings of İşık Güner.
And what is so enormously pleasing is that the premier of the show is in her own native Çamlıhemşin.
Işık comes from a family a botanists. Her father Prof. Adil Güner is director of Turkey’s most important botanical garden, the Nezahat Gökyiğit gardens, and her sister is co-author with her husband of Flora of the Silk Road. İsık herself must count as one of the world’s most talented botanical draughtsmen, the Ferdinand Bauer of her day (Bauer was the 18th-century draughtsman described as the Mozart of botanical drawing). She is the picture editor for the forthcoming Illustrated Flora of Turkey and oversees 92 botanical artists who have illustrated almost all the plant species currently known from Turkey.
The hope is that the show will travel. In the forthcoming issue of Cornucopia, Harriet Rix describes her experience of visiting to the show in the old school house at Hemşin.
The show is sponsored by Haremlique. We don’t there can be a better, more impactful way to celebrate the 101st Cumhuriyet Bayram. Hats off to everyone involved!