Woman With a Hat draws on Turkish modernization and the reforms realized by Ataturk during the rebellions of 1920s. With the new laws, the Fez was banned throughout the country and many people rebelled against these reforms. During this time, a woman nicknamed as Şallı Bacı (Scarf Lady), accused of supporting the anti-hat protests in Erzurum, was executed in 1925; she was the first woman in Turkey subjected to capital punishment for political reason. An Ottoman inspired gravestone for Şallı Bacı has been designed to honor her unknown grave. ‘Women do not wear hats, why hang them?’ is inscribed on the gravestone; the utterance that was attributed to Şalcı Bacı while she was on her way to the gallows, articulating the absurdity of a woman being hung for wearing a fez or hat, which are not parts of women’s clothing.
Marble, 54×8 cm h: 138
Commissioned by The Moving Museum.
Photo by CHROMA
[…] Çavuşoğlu’s monument to the first Turkish woman executed by capital punishment […]