It was an historic moment in art history when UNESCO included Ebru in the cultural heritage list, taking it under preservation, marking the first time that preservation was provided for a Turkish-origin art by UNESCO in its history. The art of Ebru has been written in the history books in letters of gold as the 12^th Turkish element. Through his incredible determination and effort, Atilla Can has achieved a great historical milestone in Ebru history.

The process was started when Atilla submitted a petition to the United Nations through the Paris office of UNESCO. In his petition, Atilla explained the virtues of Ebru as an historic and relevant art form. He passionately stated the grounds for why it must be handed down to future generations and taken under preservation as a valuable and genuine field of art with a history dating back more than 1,000 years.  At the time, Ebru was not widely known and there certainly wasn’t even the idea of a “World Ebru (Marbling) Day”.

In his efforts, Atilla sent petitions and marbling samples to UNESCO from 6 different countries. He also submitted petitions and made phone calls to many different governmental and NGO  offices, the Ministry of Culture and the national UNESCO commission in Turkey, explaining that he had been submitting petitions to the UN and UNESCO Paris to raise awareness related to the art of paper marbling. He requested support from government offices for his aim and explained the requirement to act collectively in order to send an official petition to UNESCO. Through his care and concern, he worked to convince the people and entities to believe in his vision.

Over the course of five and a half years of continued and dedicated work, he shared his vision of the UNESCO project to all Ebru artists he could reach and requested them to submit petitions to UNESCO Paris together with samples of their works. As if this moment had been waited for centuries, an incredible storm of excitement was created in a flash of action. Ebru artists from around the world sent hundreds of samples to UNESCO in support of Atilla’s effort. Samples and petitions continued to arrive for months, and it’s said that the Ebru art samples were enough to wrap the entire UNESCO building in Paris.

In addition to achieving UNESCO status for Ebru, Atilla envisioned an increasing awareness and popularity for Ebru Art. An early stated goal was to bring together Ebru artists from around the world on a yearly basis and start the World Ebru Day Celebrations, regardless of the acceptance of his project by UNESCO. After completing preparations, he organized the first World Ebru Day in Istanbul in 2012 with various events, panels and exhibitions.

Today, World Ebru Day enjoys support and participation from nearly 50 countries. Atilla’s dream has become a great personal achievement and a UNESCO victory.

“Never give up dreaming. Only the most confident experience great miracles”
Atilla Can

Official artist’s website: www.ebrudergisi.com