Coming from a well-established Ottoman family, Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu completed his education in Istanbul at the Imperial School of Fine Arts. He was a member of the young generation who grew up immersed in high Ottoman culture and embraced the young Republic as it emerged from war. He came to be known as the architect who built the first monumental structures of the new regime. His work was inspired by the traditional architecture of the Seljuk, Anatolian principalities and Ottoman periods, and in time, he also produced work that displayed modernization, and the search for a national identity. The Headquarters of the Turkish Hearths organization, and the Ethnography Museum of Ankara became his best-known structures.
He was also a great adventurer. He was a talented artist, a venturous soldier, an irrepressible athlete and a vigilant explorer. In a life of 89 years, he worked in 31 different professions, from gallery owner to transport contractor. He was an affectionate family man. He had a great love for life, work and fun. He left no stone unturned; he was an architect and hero of modern times in every sense of the word. With camera in hand, he wandered across the fading lands of the empire, the Balkans in flames, provinces now lost and refugee camps. He recorded Istanbul under Allied occupation, distant Anatolian villages along the borders, the cultural heritage of this land, its faces and its future image.
Drawn from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, the exhibition “Extraordinary Minas” sheds light on the creativity of Minas Avramidis, one of Kütahya’s most distinctive ceramic masters. It also explores the region’s efforts to revive tile craftsmanship during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Suna’nın Kızları organized the second edition of the Girl-Centered Design Conference to support girls' empowerment as active agents in social life.
Specialists from Johns Hopkins and Harvard Universities evaluated children diagnosed with Ataxia-Telangiectasia (AT), a rare genetic disorder, at healthcare institutions in Istanbul. This significant meeting marked a step forward in the potential application of advanced treatment methods in Turkey.