Biography:
Yıldız Kalkan was born in Bursa. She was graduated from the Accounting Department in the Faculty of Business Administration at Uludağ University and from the Department of Teaching in the Faculty of Education in Ankara University.
She joined in the photography course of Bursa Photo Art Association (BUFSAD) in 1987 and started to take photos. She realized exhibitions and slide shows. Still continues his photography profession as BUFSAD member, Kalkan lives in Kaş, Antalya.
Exhibition: Sarıkeçililer
Sheepherding (herd administration) is one of the oldest occupations. Cain, the son of Adam, is the first known shepherd in the history. Shepherds, feeding animals, provide great significance to the nutrition of human-beings and to the economy. Therefore they need to feed their herds in pastures and forages in a very good way.
Sarıkeçili Toros Yuruks of nomadic Yuruk groups that maintains this occupation in Anatolia remain until today. Using meadow, forage, pasture and summer pastures that are the common fields of the villages, they continue this profession. They live in Aydıncık, Mersin during winters while they live in Karaman, Konya during summers. Together with their herds, they start migrating on April and pass 600 km in one month, and return from the same route at the end of September.
They encounter different problems regarding sheepherding and immigration. The prominent problems they face are the continuously narrowing pastures and forages. There are problems in the fields of providing necessary conditions for the appraisal of goat products, consulting the herd owners regarding the precautions to be taken on the animal health, opening of vocational high schools on animal care and breeding and training the Yuruk children in these schools and having qualified communication and collaboration with local authorities and bureaucracy. It is also necessary to provide solutions on children’s benefit from general education and health services.
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