Cemil Tamay, who paints the racing yachts of the Bosphorus, on twenty years from sailing to sports painting

A photographer trained on the violin learned to sail on a friend’s family boat

Cemil Tamay was born in Ankara in 1956. He graduated from the violin department of Gazi University in 1979. He took up photography as a student and has been a member of GESAM as a photographic artist since 1990.

His first contact with the sea goes back to his childhood. The first boat he sailed on was Yaman, a five-metre wooden boat with an inboard engine, oars and a portable mast. Her owner, Muhip Bey, was a keen sailor who had raised his sons Yaman and Altan with the same passion. Tamay learned to sail from Altan. “I was lucky. Thanks to my close friendship with Altan, I learned sailing from him and built my experience at sea through the adventures we shared.”

At Mavi Yelken he photographed races while teaching sailing

For many years Tamay taught sailing with Engin Erol Çevik under the Mavi Yelken name. The two sailed together on long passages and in races. “We spent a great deal of time together on long passages and in races. Sadly, we have said farewell to him, and we remember him with longing and prayers.”

One of Tamay’s paintings from 2010 shows Engin Erol Çevik at the helm offshore. The painting also reflects how Tamay worked in those years. He raced on board and took photographs at the same time.

A race off Caddebostan became the source of his first paintings

The idea of painting came to him on a racecourse off Caddebostan. As the boats, the sea, the speed, the sheets and the colours came together, one sentence crossed his mind. “I have to paint this!” Today he recalls the day in these words. “The colour, action and adrenaline of the moment moved me, and the paintings grew out of a wish to bring the moments I kept photographing onto canvas.”

Photography shaped his painting. For a long time he worked day and night to build an archive of sports photographs. His paintings use a mixed technique that combines photography and painting. He reinterprets the colours, the spray and the forms of a chosen frame on canvas. Having started with contemporary art, his work has moved closer to classical painting over the years. He still keeps most of his early paintings.

After the abstract early works came the well-known boats of the Bosphorus

Abstraction dominated the first paintings, so the boats could not be identified. In his later paintings of Bosphorus races, Provezza, Oğuzhan, Kahve Dünyası, Borusan and Vakko can be recognised by their sail numbers and hull lettering. Over Ergin İmre’s racing career of more than thirty years, the name Provezza has been given to nine different boats.

Among Tamay’s paintings is also a portrait of Cahit Üren, known to sailors as “Cahit abi”. Üren, who served for many years as general manager of TAYK, is a name known to several generations of offshore sailors in Türkiye. In Tamay’s own words, “our dear Cahit Üren ağabey” is one of the sailing people he has painted.

His first exhibitions opened beside the track at Istanbul Park

After sailing, the first sport he turned to was MotoGP. In 2007 he held MotoGP and Formula 1 exhibitions at Istanbul Park. The same year his work was shown at Tremola Gallery in Ankara, at the Sport and Life Festival in Balıkesir and at the “Joy of Two Wheels” exhibition in Istanbul. He also took part in the exhibitions for Fenerbahçe’s centenary. The paintings bought by Ali Koç were hung on the walls of Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. In 2008 he held an equestrian sports exhibition at Kemer Country Golf Club.

In 2011 his paintings welcomed athletes at six major events

2011 was Tamay’s busiest year. Early in the year he held an exhibition at the opening of Galatasaray’s Türk Telekom Arena. The Winter Universiade in Erzurum, the European Youth Olympic Festival in Trabzon, the Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park and the World Wrestling Championships in Istanbul followed.

In October he painted a separate portrait of each of the eight players competing in the WTA Championships at the Sinan Erdem Arena. The paintings, completed in about three months, were displayed at the athletes’ entrance. He exhibited three times in total while the WTA Championships were held in Istanbul.

At the athletics championships, athletes found themselves on canvas

In 2012 he exhibited at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul. American athletes visiting the exhibition recognised themselves in the paintings, and their teammates asked to be painted too. The same year the World Short Course Swimming Championships joined the events where he exhibited.

Over time his subjects widened from sports to individual athletes. Alex and Carlos in football, İbrahim Kutluay and Hidayet Türkoğlu in basketball, and Naim Süleymanoğlu and Halil Mutlu in weightlifting are among them. A sports art museum in the United States once asked him for paintings of US presidents, Paralympic sport, women athletes and motorsport.

A museum of sport and art is his goal

The goal Tamay has voiced for a long time is a museum in Türkiye that shows sport and art together. In 2014 he said that his only request to the state was support for such a museum.

His exhibitions continue. In May 2025 he held an exhibition for Galatasaray’s 25th league title. In the same month his “Spirit of Youth, Colour of Sport” exhibition opened in Bodrum. Tamay still works in his studio in Maltepe, and his plans lead back to where he began. “As long as I am healthy, I will keep sailing and painting.”