Fine arts students cannot use live models due to limited funds
Esra Ülkar – ISTANBUL
A group of Marmara University students have launched a petition on change.org for real models to be used in arts classes.
“Developing and developed countries try to provide their students all the means the contemporary age requires. Live models for art faculties are one of the significant needs,” the students’ statement on change.org said.
According to the statement, financial support was cut in the education year of 2018-2019 and the students’ petition concerning the issue was rejected by the relevant ministries.
“There were live models before, but we have not worked with any for a year. No explanation was made. In the faculty, students first undergo training by working with mannequins then shift to live models. We still do not see any progress,” Ümran Tolun, a sophomore in the sculpture department of Marmara University, told daily Hürriyet.
Tolun also stressed that her application to the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications (CİMER) regarding the procurement of funds to hire live models was rejected.
This is a countrywide issue, the student added.
“This is not a problem that the university can solve on its own. I do not know much about the financial matters. We are waiting for this problem to be solved,” said Emre İkizler, the deputy dean of the university’s fine arts faculty.
“The students are solving the live model deficiency on their own. We are a young faculty,” said Murat Özyavuz, the faculty’s dean.
Many other faculty officials refrained from commenting regarding this issue.
Even though live model applications are not very common in Turkey, models used to be hired by universities as temporary staff.
Some faculties employ live models using their own internal budgets, but in other cases students model for each other.
