Naciye Detseli completed her BA in the Department of Traditional Turkish Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Selçuk University (2015) and her MA in the Institute of Social Sciences at the same university (2018) with a thesis focusing on Seljuk ornamentation on wooden materials. She received her PhD in 2024 at the Department of Turkish Islamic Arts at the Institute of Social Sciences at Necmettin Erbakan University with her thesis on Ilkhanate period illumination style. Dr. Detseli has been working as a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Selçuk University since 2019. She has published articles and book chapters on book arts and architectural ornaments, with an emphasis on ornamentation, in various journals. The artist, who has participated in many national and international group exhibitions, has awards in the fields of marbling/ebru, and hand-drawn art. She continues her work in the fields of illumination, miniature, hand-drawn art and marbling/ebru.

“At times like these, poetry is a virtue I wish I possessed—so I could convey the depth and beauty of what I feel. To put it as best as I can: when I was contacted about this project, I was going through one of the more difficult periods of my life. I agreed to be involved, despite that challenging time, thanks to the kindness in the approach and the dedication to his work of Tarık Tüten—a person whose character I deeply respect. During the time I spent immersed in this subject, I journeyed through time, driven by the age-old human desire “to know.” I met Hafız Ahmed Ağa and his son Fethi Paşa. The Hafız Ahmed Ağa Library became a place I felt emotionally connected to—a place I’ve never seen in person, yet could vividly imagine myself peacefully leafing through books in, just from the photographs. I thank Tarık Tüten for making this journey possible and congratulate him on his successful project.”

Naciye Detseli