Persian ‘Bird Language' focus of Lebanon painting exhibition

The Yunus Emre Institute's office in Beirut, Lebanon, is hosting a painting exhibition inspired by the stories in Iranian poet and Sufi Attar of Nishapur's book "Mantıku't-Tayr" (Bird Language). Organized by the Yunus Emre Institute and Classical Turkish Arts Foundation, the exhibition opened with a ceremony overseen by Consul Muzaffer Doyan of Turkey's Embassy in Beirut as well as students and instructors of the institute. The painting works featured at the exhibition focus on the birds in "Mantıku't-Tayr" and their journeys to reach the ultimate reunion with God.

In his statement to Anadolu Agency (AA), Cengiz Eroğlu, the manager of the Yunus Emre Institute's Beirut office, said "Mantıku't-Tayr" dates back to the 11th century and was able to be preserved until the present day. "We curated this exhibition of 35 paintings with the collaboration of the Classical Turkish Arts Foundation. Each painting aims to tell a story in a modern way."

Ayşenur Kapusuz, one of the employees of Classical Turkish Art Foundation, stressed that the works showcased at the exhibition are the miniature versions of the paintings featured in "Mantıku't-Tayr."

"In his work, Attar of Nishapur tries to illustrate the hard concepts in Sufism though the experiences of the birds. In fact, each bird represents an archetypal individual in society. The book mentions the journey that the birds took in order to reach the ultimate reunion with God. We tried to reflect this idea in our exhibition," Kapusuz said.

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