The Woman Artist of the Year Award was given to the Kaat'ı Artist Nagihan Yılmaz Sezgin

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Since its establishment in 2002, the Eskişehir Art Association has been celebrating International Women's Day on March 8th each year with large-scale exhibitions, and in this exhibition, the Woman Artist of the Year Award is presented to an artist annually. This award has been given to a painter, a poet, or a Kutahya stone artist in different years. This year, the award was given to a female artist who continues the tradition of Kaat-I Art in Eskişehir, one of our forgotten traditional arts. This artist is Nagihan Yılmaz Sezgin...

Kaat-I art is an Ottoman art form. Kaat-I literally means cutting. It is also called cutting and carving art on paper or leather. It is also known as paper carving art because it is mainly applied as a very fine work on paper. It is an art form created by carving beautiful writings and motifs with a sharp curved knife called "Revregen" onto another paper to create a colored background. Examples of this art have been known since the 14th century, and its oldest and most important work is housed in the Topkapı Palace Collection. It is even mentioned as the most important art form during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. In addition to writings, decorations such as flowers, flowers in vases, trees, natural scenes, and birds have been widely used in this art. Over time, stylized abstractions have also been made. This art has become widespread from China to Romanian artists today, and it has even found application in decorative purposes in sizes of 2-3 meters.