Photograph of Mehmet Zorba no. 032

Photograph of Mehmet Zorba, born in 1913 in Kanli near Gönyeli. The photograph was taken in the year 1932 in the same studio of Fevzi Akarsu as No. 033. On the lower left corner of the photograph there is the potographer’s archive number A 951, while on that of No. 033, the number A 925 appears; this means that the latter was taken slightly earlier than No. 032. The painted background is the same in both photographs, but here it is much clearer: the large window with glass panes, a painting hanging on the wall and below it a slender table with a vase full of white blossoms on it. The man stands on the carpet in the same posture as Ali (No. 033), with his right hand on the white corner table, which has the same pot with various flowers on its lower shelf. The hair style of Mehmet, who is only 19 years old in this picture, is kakül (TCy kahkül, Turk. kakül = lock of hair, side lock) with his thick short wavy hair brushed to the right side; the coiffure is completed with a short moustache. He is also dressed similarly to Ali in No. 033: his white shirt is loom-woven, the jacket made of English fabric wrinkled, not ironed, yet decorated with a red carnation on the lapel and a white handkerchief in the breast pocket. The wide out-turned collar of the shirt covers the jacket’s collar. This was the fashionable style for young people in the 1930s. By contrast, the lower part of the attire follows traditional patterns: a Tripoli silk sash (ipek tarabulus kuşak) around the waist on top of light blue çuha şalvar, made of broadcloth, with fine applied decoration of black silk braids, forming the typical curvilinear stylized vegetal patterns known from other examples; this is the only piece which differentiates the appearance of the young men on the two photographs. As for the stockings and the footwear, it is as they have put on the same items: light rose knitted stockings with lozenge patterns, and bichrome (black and white) elastic-sided ankle boots (lastikli konçlu potin, konç = leg of a boot or stocking). Source: Emine Damdelen. Village: Kioneli (Gönyeli), Nicosia District.