Meet the Deq Tattooist Leaving Her Mark

The Kurdish deq tattoo is a traditional form of body art with deep historical roots and significance across several cultures.

Spanning thousands of years and multiple continents, these tattoos were a long-standing common practice especially amongst older women, but the art form has witnessed a decline in recent years amongst younger generations. In this love letter to Kurdish women and their practices, meet Fatê Temel, the young woman practicing and preserving this endangered tradition against all odds.

#Tattoo #Deq #Travel

00:00 Intro
00:15 How Fatê's story began
00:37 Meet Fatê
1:10 What is deq?
1:43 What differentiates the deq from a modern tattoo?
02:26 Deq motifs
03:09 Meet Hatice
03:31 Fatê gives Hatice a deq
03:57 The decline of deq
04:59 How Fatê learnt to give the tattoo
05:21 Fatê's first deq
06:00 Opening her first studio
06:41 Reasons why people get the deq tattoo
07:10 Meet Ruken
07:26 Fatê gives Ruken a deq
07:39 Teaching the craft
08:00 Cultural significance of Kurdish traditions
08:18 Barriers to learning about the tradition
08:38 How Fatê researches the tradition
09:03 Importance of upkeeping this tradition
10:03 Fatê’s plans for the future

Video credits:
Producer / Director: Diren Özçelik
Executive Producer: Genevieve Ingham
Editor: Steven Kelly
Graphics: Will Minns
Videographer: Aytunç Akad
Voiceover Artist: Kiran Saggu
Translator: Nesrin Soydan
Talent: Fatma Temel
Contributor: Ruken Korgan
Contributor: Hatice Subaşı

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