Davut Bektas

Hattat

Birth Date H. 1382-1383
M. 1963

Birth Place Adana

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About Artist

Born in 1963 in Akoluk village, Feke district, Adana, he completed his primary education in his village and continued his secondary and high school studies at Adana Imam-Hatip High School. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University in 1992. During his high school years, he discovered the art of calligraphy and decided to pursue it. He moved to Istanbul for higher education in the 1981-1982 academic year, where he briefly studied Thuluth script under the late Calligrapher Yusuf Ergün (Erzincani). From 1982, he studied Thuluth, Naskh, and Riq’a scripts with Calligrapher Hasan Çelebi, receiving his Thuluth-Naskh ijazah in 1994. From 2002 until his passing, he furthered his studies in Ta’liq and Diwani scripts with Prof. Dr. Ali Alparslan. In international calligraphy competitions organized by IRCICA, affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), he won first prize in Jali Thuluth and an honorable mention in Taqlid script in 1986, followed by first prizes in Jali Thuluth in 1989 and Thuluth in 1993. Since 1984, he has participated in numerous exhibitions both domestically and internationally, showcasing his work in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah), Qatar, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Spain, South Africa, the United States, Japan, Pakistan, and Malaysia. In 2005, he held a solo exhibition titled "Melody of Letters" in Kuwait. He has served as a jury member for many domestic and international calligraphy competitions and has taught calligraphy at ISMEK, the Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, and the Classical Turkish Arts Foundation at various times, granting ijazah to many students. His works are included in various collections, private ownership, institutions, and museums. He was responsible for the calligraphy at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies mosque (2011-2015), Taksim Mosque (2020, 2021), and Zeytinburnu Mosque (2023). He contributed several inscriptions to the Masjid al-Haram expansion project and wrote inscriptions for the Grand Çamlıca Mosque. Additionally, he created the final implementation drawings of his teacher Hasan Çelebi's inscriptions. He also wrote inscriptions for the Hasan Tahsin Uğur Mosque in Kartal, the ITU Abdülhakim Sancak Mosque, and the Borsa Istanbul Mosque. He currently practices calligraphy actively and works as a lecturer at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University.

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Davut Bektas

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