I've chosen Esref Armagan not because of his pictures themselves but because of his ability to feel the word, surrounding him; his amazing sense of reality. I wonder how he got it! Did he absorb it with the milk of his mother or is it just a kind of genetic memory? Agree that it's quite easy to learn how to use the colours and it's quite acceptable to improve the fingers' tactility, but how to understand the prospective, moreover, to express it on the sheet of paper? It is something that he cannot touch or physically explore. Don't overlook that he was born without eyes! He has never seen at least the slightest hint of the sunlight, not talking about the objects he draws. Hence, he's pictures are the projection of his inner vision.

But there is one more thing which has impressed me the most: it's his strong urge to art. Just imagine a ballet dancer with no legs! It's even sounds absurdly. But in spite of the circumstances he draws his amazing pictures. He dares to do and he wins!

"Mr. Armagan is an important figure in the history of picture-making, and in the history of knowledge. His work is remarkable. I was struck by the drawings he has made as much as by his work with paint. He has demonstrated for the first time that a blind person can develop on his or her own pictorial skills the equal of most depiction by the sighted. This has not happened before in the history of picture-making."

John M. Kennedy, Professor

Perception/Cognition Psychology

University of Toronto at Scarborough

Esref Armagan was born 42 years ago with no sight. He is an unusual individual, not just because he has been blind since birth, but because the art work that he has created has been all through his own efforts, his own trials, his own discoveries of methods that would work so that he can put on paper that which he feels in his environment.

As a child, Esref wasn’t allowed to go to school or to go outside to play with the other children, so he would pick up a nail and try to draw shapes on the cardboard boxes his father brought home from work. Eventually, he thought that he would try to draw the shapes of various objects that he was acquainted with. It soon grew into a passion for him. As he learned the names of the colors, he also learned what objects they went with. He devised a system for keeping his colors separate and he started drawing and painting.


For the past 35 years, Esref has been working to perfect his artistry. He works mostly in oils, using his hands instead of brushes.


To work on a picture, he needs absolute quiet. He needs to feel that he is “inside” his painting – in fact, as he explained , when he is drawing a picture of the sea, he wonders if he should wear a life jacket so as not to drown! Esref Armagan has had several showings in Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara plus exhibits in Amsterdam, the Czech Republic and New York. Although he has difficulty in finding ways to support himself and his family, he is looking forward to the opportunity to have more exhibits, to learn more about his craft, and to prove to the world that there are no limits to what can be accomplished.