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Exposer les originaux du livre graphique de Zehra Doğan, “Prison N°5”, paru aux Editions Delcourt, n’est pas chose facile, et ne peut être réalisé que dans des espaces dédiés et sécurisés, comme ce fut le cas à la Biennale de Berlin, au Centre Maxime Gorki, toujours à Berlin, ou bientôt à Milan en Italie.
Exhibiting the original of Zehra Doğan’s graphic book, “Prison N° 5” published by Editions Delcourt, is not a simple matter and can only be done in dedicated and secure spaces, as was the case at the Berlin Biennial , inside Berlin’s Maxime Gorki Center, or as will soon be the case in Milan in Italy.
But…
With Editions Delcourt’s generous contribution, associations, libraries, media centers, bookstores and anyone wishing to organize an exhibition will have access to 20 quality reproductions in a free “exhibition kit”, requiring the deposit of a reimbursable guarantee. The only cost will be for shipping and returning the materials (a total of 66 €).
A bit of background on the making of this graphic book
Along with its artistic qualities, the graphic publication describes the Kurdish question, among others, along with a somber history of an already dark period in Turkey, between 1980 and 1995. It also describes daily living conditions in today’s women prisons and the struggles they carry out against them. Prison N° 5 is the sinister “Amed Gaol”, the penitentiary in Diyarbakır, where Zehra Doğan was also incarcerated, and which served as a center for torture and ill treatment under the military dictatorship. It stands as a piece of Turkish history that explains much of what is still current under the Erdoğan regime.
The idea of this graphic work came to Zehra while she was in prison, at a time when she had no access to artistic supplies, since they were all forbidden. She then asked Naz Öke to be her accomplice (Naz is none other than the creator of Kedistan and she wrote to Zehra several times a week); Zehra asked her to write on only one side of sheets of wrapping paper. More than one hundred such sheets were then “escaped” from prison, then re-assembled, providing the matrix of the book Editions Delcourt published enthusiastically in a French version in early 2021. In a similar spirit, Beco Giallo Publishing published an Italian version in Italy.
Thus, we offer 20 reproductions of these “escaped” originals for exhibition.
In this selection, you will find the following pages of the graphic book: 5, 11, 28–29, 33, 40, 42, 57 58, 64–54, 72, 76, 78, 79, 87, 90, 99, 103, 108. (See images below.)
On July 21 2016, Zehra Doğan was arrested in Mardin, accused of terrorist propaganda for having published a digital drawing of the destructions in the town of Nusaybin, a town under curfew in which she found herself in her capacity as a journalist. This was the beginning of a judiciary journey. On March 2 2017, she was at first acquitted of the accusation of belonging to an illegal organization; but she was sentenced nonetheless to two years, nine months and 22 days in prison for distributing the drawing of Nusaybin. After 141 days of provisional imprisonment in Mardin – where she shared a cell block with Kurdish singer Nûdem Durak — she was set free under probation. Once her sentence was confirmed, she spent a few months in hiding in Istanbul, and was arrested again on June 12 2017 and incarcerated in prison n° 5 in Diyarbakır.
On October 23 2018, following an imposed distancing measure, Zehra Doğan was sent to the prison in Tarsus. She was liberated on February 24 2019. The graphic book also relates this entire period.
All the links provided in this article will provide you with more information that will help you in preparing your project. Take the time to read them.
Content of the kit
Quality reproductions 40 x 60 cm, enlargements of the originals in 21 x 29,7 cm. The texts are in French, following their translation and adaptation to the pages received from prison. Exhibit-ready.
• 20 reproductions with hooks for hanging
• 1 copy of the book “Prison N° 5” by Zehra Doğan, Delcourt, April 2021 (for on-site consultation)
• 1 copy of the book “Nous aurons aussi de beaux jours, écrits de prison” (We will also know fine days, prison writings) by Zehra Doğan, Editions des femmes, October 2019 (for on-site consultation)
• information documents such as press materials around the book Prison N° 5, Zehra Doğan’s biography…
• USB key containing a selection of shorts videos (1 to 4 minutes – you can view the selection here)
• A document on “How to proceed” with the exhibition”.
On loan against a cheque deposit as security. Your only costs being postal delivery and return for a total of 66€. (In metropolitan France : Colissimo against signature. Postal tariff for 12 kg 26 € + 500 € insurance (mandatory) + 7€, total : 33€ (thus 66 € total).
Animation possible, upon request. Conditions to be discussed with Kedistan.
For the local sale of the graphic book, the organizer of the exhibition must contact a local bookstore.
This kit is thus available from Kedistan on request.
You are invited to contact us directly online, via the website’s address or through our page on facebook. Leaving a phone number would be useful for a speedier response.
These reproductions are not for sale, any more than the originals are. The graphic book is available in all good bookstores.
Additionally, as a reminder that the drawings were done on the reverse side of letters, we invite you to read and circulate the prison correspondence, published by Editions des Femmes in France in 2020 under the title “Nous aurons aussi de beaux jours”. In it, you will find all Zehra Doğan’s answers to these letters, thus providing a detailed context to the graphic book, the two works being complementary.
So librarians, associations, media centers, libraries with an exhibition space, reach for your keyboard ! Get in touch with us!