KKK (Quran School for Girls)

Dates

2016 - Ongoing
Author

Sabiha Çimen
Recognition

Main Prize - PhMuseum 2018 Women Photographers Grant

The title K.K.K. in Turkey stands for Quran Study Schools for Girls (Kız Kuran Kursu). The Quran has a total of 604 pages. Girls are attempting to memorize the whole the Quran. The memorization process takes three or four years according to the capability of the girls. When I was thirteen years old I too attended these Quran courses with my twin sister.

Questions and misconceptions lie behind all things hidden from plain sight yet because I am veiled too I was able to open a window to a world unknown to most others. l am as a head-scarfed woman in Istanbul automatically categorized, put into a closed box of cardboard conservatism, experienced the scarf-ban eleven years ago that forced me to leave the university, yet I am much more than that, once the metaphorical veil is lifted. I choose to find the souls of these girls and to capture my vision. As sociologist Richard Sennett says l am "trying to use my own experience as a starting point" for exploring the specific emotions in the daily life of hundreds of the Quran school girls.

With this project, l am following the voice of generations former students including mine and my twin. l want to show all the rule-breaking practices in the daily life of the school, a kind of art of resistance which breaks the dominance and which saves their creative souls and protects them from being their subaltern. Like painting their face a cloud or wearing a gorilla mask.

l want to expand my ideas on to a common platform and into the public sphere in this final chapter of my project. With these young girls, I have found a subject dear to my heart and discovered a voice that comes from within myself, but which still needs to be honed and tuned. With these portraits, my hope is to shed a bit of light and insight into the hearts and minds of these young girls who are like me, many years ago.

This project, which I plan to create a book consisting of ninety-nine medium format color film portraits for the ninety-nine names Allah to show the daily lives of the girls and their hidden emotions trying to memorize the sacred texts while still retaining the humble dreams of any young woman their age.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Palm Leaf. Turkey- Istanbul Yüsra is 15 years old shy girl, she wanted to cover her face with a palm leaf. Her first year in Qur'an course.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Faking Illness. Turkey-Istanbul According to some Islamic authorities, a woman cannot touch and read Qur'an while she is in her period time. That day Havva couldn't memorize her pages and she is faking illness in sickroom and listening to music with earrings under her headscarf.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Büşra and Kübra (Twins). Turkey-Istanbul Büşra(left) and Kübra(right). The twins are 14 years old. Their third year in the Quran school. Büşra will finish her Quran memorization process soon and Kübra still has one year to graduate. When Büşra will graduate Kübra will see her just one day in five-teen days.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Rousseau Girl. Turkey-Istanbul Şüheda likes to paint her face. For her role in theatre, she is painting her face black for the night.Even her role finished she hangs in school garden with her painted face. For me, her nature coming out like a Rousseau painting. Also, she likes to paint her friends face as her imagination. Whatever she desires to see or reach she is painting, sea, flying clouds, ice-cream and such things.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Lemons and Needles. Turkey-Kars Girls are making lemonade with unfresh lemons as a summertime activity. As a common style of having fun between headscarf girls, they are pin pricing to their dead skin.

© Sabiha Çimen - Talking Teenagers. Turkey-Istanbul Young girls are talking on their weekend plans.

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Talking Teenagers. Turkey-Istanbul Young girls are talking on their weekend plans.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Gorilla Girl. Turkey-Istanbul Girls are having fun and joking with gorilla mask in the garden of the school. Running with gorilla head behind the girls in the corridors and trying to scare them.

© Sabiha Çimen - Fruit Eraser. Turkey-Istanbul A fruit erasers collection box.

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Fruit Eraser. Turkey-Istanbul A fruit erasers collection box.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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First Day of Headscarf. Turkey-Rize Elif is a nine years old new student of Qur'an school. Her first day of covering her head. Her aim is memorizing whole Qur’an and to be Hafız in next two years. Memorizing the Qur'an is a very virtuous deed that has many rewards. The most valuable reward is heaven and its endless beauties, let aside her family’s future benevolences to her.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Embracing Soulmate. Turkey-Istanbul Nehir embracing her soul mate at the picnic event. The best way of staying strong in a boarding school is having a close friend and her solidarity.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Afternoon Prayer Break. Turkey-Kars After prayer, girls are hanging in the garden at noon break. They are singing Kurdish songs all together.

© Sabiha Çimen - Dining Room. Turkey-Kars A hall monitor girl sitting alone at the dining room, separating the moldy oranges.

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Dining Room. Turkey-Kars A hall monitor girl sitting alone at the dining room, separating the moldy oranges.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Farah in Trouble. Turkey-Kars Farah is 14 years old. She makes panic while she is reading the Quran and have difficulties with memorizing. Her body reacting to that difficulties. She will study there for three more years. She wants to be a housewife in her future.

© Sabiha Çimen - Broken Watermelon. Turkey-Istanbul In a picnic event, girls are hanging and having fun around the broken watermelon.

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Broken Watermelon. Turkey-Istanbul In a picnic event, girls are hanging and having fun around the broken watermelon.

© Sabiha Çimen - Yellow Bird Cage. Turkey-Rize Asya is playing with lovebirds in the cage in Hodja’s room.

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Yellow Bird Cage. Turkey-Rize Asya is playing with lovebirds in the cage in Hodja’s room.

© Sabiha Çimen - A Young Ladies Feet. Turkey-Rize Naked feet of a girl after having wudu for the noon prayer.

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A Young Ladies Feet. Turkey-Rize Naked feet of a girl after having wudu for the noon prayer.

© Sabiha Çimen - Funfair. Turkey-Istanbul On the weekend girls are on the train at the fun fair and low-level plane passing by.

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Funfair. Turkey-Istanbul On the weekend girls are on the train at the fun fair and low-level plane passing by.

© Sabiha Çimen - A student looking out from the window the first day of the summer Quran school

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A student looking out from the window the first day of the summer Quran school

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Earthquake Training Room. Turkey-Istanbul KKK girls hanging in earthquake training room in Santral electrical museum in an organized event by Qur’an school teachers during the week.

© Sabiha Çimen - Image from the KKK (Quran School for Girls) photography project

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Elif's First Day of School. Turkey-Rize Monday, Elif ‘s first day of Ouran school, she is ready and waiting for her father to take her to school. She is watching her KKK from her home’s rooftop.

KKK (Quran School for Girls) by Sabiha Çimen