Art Through Women's Eyes: Birnur Temel Birtane transforms agricultural waste into the colour of solidarity
Social designer Birnur Temel Birtane, founder of MILKist, produces colours from agricultural waste, making the voices of women farmers visible and redefining the colour of solidarity.
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Birnur Temel at the "Colours of the Earth" exhibition. Photo: Courtesy of Birnur Temel
In 1891, Fatma Aliye Hanım, the first Turkish female novelist, co-authored a novel titled “Hayal ve Hakikat” (Fantasy and Reality) with Ahmet Mithat Efendi. It is a romance novel divided into two parts: Fatma Aliye wrote the fantasy part, while Ahmet Mithat wrote the reality part. On the cover of the novel, however, Fatma Aliye does not appear by name, but rather with a single word representing her gender: “A Woman.” While the owner of the dream becomes anonymous, the owner of the reality is a man.
This topic, which I worked on for a women artists’ exhibition in 2011 as part of the curatorial team, seems to remain relevant. For women, many dreams remain just that dreams because social norms and stereotypical judgments draw invisible boundaries on their path to turning their dreams into reality. As a young woman with a background in art history and sculpture, I continue to question this and, as a social designer, share the stories of women who turn dreams into reality in different regions.
When we founded the MILKist Social Design Centre eight years ago, our goal was to ensure equal access to creative expression for all groups through art and education. We obtain colours and paints from agricultural waste. Nettles from hazelnut orchards in the Black Sea region, pomegranate and walnut shells from the Southeast Anatolia region, onion skins from the Marmara region, or poppies and other flowering plants from the Aegean region. All of these represent colour for us, and for groups with limited access to creative expression, they represent watercolours.
Women in the ancient city of Dara sort nettles for dye preparation. Photo: Courtesy of Birnur Temel
Fabrics dyed with natural colors are being dried. Photo: Courtesy of Birnur Temel
Dyes derived from plants are ready for use. Photo: Courtesy of Birnur Temel
Since 2019, we have been working with women farmers in Dara Ancient City, Mardin. As part of our projects, we encourage our farmers to share their stories in their own words by tagging their social media accounts. Some women may not want this. However, there is a unique aspect to storytelling from the women’s perspective: thousands of women like them may be waiting for just a little encouragement to take action. They can interact with those who are curious about their lives and expand their economic and social freedom with the new skills and additional sources of income they develop. Other women around them come to them and say, “Let us be part of this too, teach us.” They express their desire to get involved with questions like, “How do we dry these waste materials, how do we turn them into powder, how do we dye them, or how do we package them?”
Purple cabbage is being prepared for color testing. Photo: Courtesy of Birnur Temel
After a while, the farmers we train begin to guide other farmers. They begin to work together to maintain delicate and sensitive balances, such as sorting flowering plants, drying wet pomegranate peels without fly infestation, and removing moisture from walnut shells before mold develops.
Between 2018 and 2021, we created a production network with 15 small-scale farmers from 10 different regions. By 2025, we had converted 5-5.5 tons of agricultural waste into paint, 155 kg from each farmer. We created 1,500 ‘kits’, meaning these wastes were packaged and sent to areas in need, primarily disaster zones. In our “Colours of the Earth” exhibition held between 2024 and 2025, we showcased designs by five female designers and five female farmers from Türkiye, using fabrics dyed with these wastes.
Over the years, women farmers became aware of each other, listened to each other's stories, and practiced their ‘art through women's eyes’. Their stories and creations brought us together as a large team.
I try to start my productions with this question: Is my production inclusive enough? Does it sufficiently reach women’s groups in rural areas, does it provide a service for young girls, can women with disabilities access this project? Which sectors and labour are being left behind, is it possible to speak of fair visibility? The message I want to convey to women and young girls through art would be to learn to recognize each other and to act together. The world through women’s eyes is never singular.
The editorial series “Through Women's Eyes,” launched by UN Women Türkiye, aims to make women’s voices, experiences, and expressions in fields such as art, music, media and literature visible. The series, created with women producers, aims to highlight the transformative link between contents produced “through women's eyes” and gender equality.
