Letter of the Traveller: A Russian Artist’s excursion into mysticism of Islamic & Turkish heritage
Ever since she became appreciative of arts the painter-pottery master Mariya Komisa from Russia was inconsolably drawn towards the turkish and islamic culture, recently she displayed her work ‘Letter of the Traveller’ at Turkish and Islamic arts at the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow.
Many splendid artworks in Europe, particularly the Venetian arts exhibit a strong influence of islamic arts as the “Frankish” city that traded most fervently with the mighty Ottoman empire. Contact between east and west has been a powerful phenomenon in the development of cultural dialogues.
Talking about her conversion into islam she asserts that everything started from Bakhchysarai in Crimea, where she was given the Quran as a gift. After perusing the holy book she decided to change her religion.
She and her husband moved to Turkey and lived for a long time in Bursa, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire.Turkey accepted me very warmly. she gradually started speaking Turkish and adopted the sartorial sense of Turkey to an extent that hardly anyone could trace back her Russion roots.
Entranced by the Sufism, she was under the influence of mystical face of Islam. She drew inspiration from Ottoman intellectual and calligraphist Matrakçı Nasuh. The glimpse of cultural diversity of Turkey and Ottoman & Islamic heritage is very much perceptible in her works.
