layers of history

while in istanbul a few weeks ago, i visited the ayasofya. it must be one of the most magnificent human made structures in the world. built by justinian starting in 532, it has stood stoically through regimes and wars and earthquakes and fires, shifting religions and rises and falls of empires. it remains, implacable, its scars visible, but none able to mar its beauty.

the layers of its history are there to be seen - mosaics of kings and saints side by side with enormous quotes from the quran in arabic. tiles on the floor that saw the coronation of emperors and sultans. stone staircases worn smooth by the feet that trod on them for millennia.

we got in at the very end of the day, so there weren't many people. it was quiet and monumental. and in the quiet it felt like if you listened hard enough, you could hear the whispers of the stories that vast, ancient place had seen - the multitude of voices which had passed through, the games played, palace intrigues conducted, prayers said, speeches and sermons proclaimed. all of those stories whispering from the walls. i wanted to hide in some corner and stay after closing, to hear them all...

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i'm so sad - andrei bitov is dead. 

i wrote my master's thesis on pushkin house and

had i finished my Ph.D., i would have written on his work.
but 81 is no bad age. my dad nearly made it there as well.
and today he would have been 85.

when istanbul was constantinople

i just read about orhan pamuk's newly-opened museum of innocence in istanbul. it's a brilliant concept, actually - because the museum is an extension of his novel of the same name. a novel and a museum as two representations of the same story - quite clever, really. and it makes me long to go to istanbul. i haven't read that novel (am ordering it immediately from the library), but from what i can gather, it is permeated with nostalgia for an instanbul that is no more. there's something about balkan writers - they walk a fine line between kitsch and nostalgia and usually, they walk it well. go and read the piece about the museum. then i'll meet you there!

let's get lost: istanbul

i love so much about istanbul....the food, the markets, the maps, the books, the coffee, the pomegranates, the wine, the bread, the rooftops, the history, the basilica cistern, the breakfast...if i type it all out, i'll just get sad and probably go book tickets, so just enjoy these photos....

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these photos were taken in istanbul in august 2007.

dreams of istanbul

i wander the house, camera in hand, looking for something to photograph as my photo of the day. today, the light seemed good, so i tried for the umpteenth time to photograph the beautiful little turkish shadow puppet i bought last autumn when i was in istanbul. today, i finally got a shot i liked. one that seemed to show the luminescence of the painted leather of which the puppet is made.

i love this aspect of the 365 project, tho' i will admit i'm otherwise in the throes of a february malaise at the moment. but, the fact of the need to find something to photograph every day at times takes me on a pleasant trip down memory lane. in fact, i was quite transported by this one.

i didn't have much time in istanbul last autumn, but at nearly 10 p.m. on the one evening i had, i was wandering the streets and i happened upon a used book market near taxsim square. one of the stalls was selling these shadow puppets. i must have been so caught up in talking to the artist who made them that i didn't take any photos of the stall itself. he told me about the plays which feature characters named karagöz and hacivat. the figures are stock caricatures, but of the type that say something amusing and true about those they depict - albanians, armenians, jews, greeks, turks from anatolia and turks from instanbul. i wanted to buy a whole set of the puppets, they were so beautiful, but i settled for the one with the boat. it's from a traditional story in which karagöz and hacivat are kicked out by their wives and take a job ferrying across the bosporus.  i'll admit i was just charmed by the boat. you can read more about the turkish shadow plays here. this website is run by the artist who i bought my puppet from.

i was charmed by other sights at that market as well...

i bought a book there on ottoman navigational charts, but i'll have to save that one for another day. i'm certain to be lacking something to photograph again in the near future. but for now, i'll just go on dreaming of istanbul.

energetic istanbul

despite having only a little bit of time to wander and have a look around istanbul, i was overwhelmed by a sense that it had changed dramatically in the two years since i'd been here. there's a feeling in the air that turkey is a speeding, unstoppable train. i don't feel even a whiff of economic crisis in the air here.

in the cafés, which are full, everyone is sitting around with their trendy mini net PCs on the free wireless, sipping cups of sweet tea or strong coffee. there are very few women wearing muslim head scarves and those who are seem to be making a fashion statement rather than a religious one. although the pulse is undeniably exotic and byzantine, istanbul (or at least taxsim) feels decidedly modern and progressive and despite the occasional wail of the calls to prayer from the many mosques tucked here and there, it feels very secular.

the sounds and the pulse of the café-lined side streets are hard to convey in words. music pouring forth, the sound of voices, the sweet scent of the sheesha pipes, so many impressions hitting you at once, it can be almost overwhelming.

i have this feeling that turkey's desire to join the european union has given it an energy that feels unstoppable and dynamic. it feels to me like it would recharge the EU and give it a momentum that it seems to lack.

it's interesting how the ancient and the modern exist here side by side, giving a sort of dynamic tension that feels electric, vibrant and alive. even if you've only got a few hours, istanbul is worth the trip.

5 places i love - #3 basilica cistern, istanbul

down underneath the busy streets of istanbul, very close to the ayasofya, is the basilica cistern. although in the height of the summer, there can be a lot of people there, all escaping the heat down into the cool, mysterious depths, it is a marvelous place. it's a little bit spooky and dark and the way they've lit it and the slightly chilling new age music that's playing only lend to this delicious feeling of spookiness.

i recently saw one of the early james bond films where sean connery was still bond and there is a scene that takes place in the basilica cistern. it was originally built by constantine and then restored and enlarged by justinian in 532. it provided the royal palaces with water, even after the ottomans took constantinople in 1453 and clear up to modern times. there are marvelous columns (i've never counted how many) of all kinds, i suppose they were repurposed from old greek and roman buildings here and there. some are more elaborate than others, but it lends to the charm of the place.

two of the columns have a medusa head at their base. one is upside down and the one below is on its side. there's no adequate explanation for their presence there and the accounts i've read have no real idea where they came from. i'm not an archeologist but to me, it seems they were used because they were an available material at the time of building and the matter of their placement was one of engineering convenience. but perhaps i'm not romantic or imaginative enough to read some other meaning into them. they are very cool nonetheless.

it's quite a large chamber and there's absolutely no hint of it from the surface, you can walk along the streets with no clue whatsoever that it's there. i quite love the idea of it being there beneath the feet of the busy people above, languishing in its cool, mysterious depths and no doubt holding many secrets and stories.

sources of inspiration

as i've struggled with my blank canvas (which is currently still blank, by the way) the past few days, i have been seeking sources of inspiration and thinking about what it is that does inspire me. it's things like:

1. colors--rich oranges and reds or deep turquoises and teals.


2. textures--like indian or moroccan or turkish textiles.


3. traveling--memories of the quality of the air and the light of the sunset over the agean with a plate of icy, cold melon and a glass of chilled white wine in front of me.


4. patterns--mosaics at a ruin, the lamps in the grand bazaar in istanbul.


5. hand-crafted items incorporating colorful beads or driftwood.


6. maps.


7. icons. or paintings that in some sense pay homage to icons.


8. symbols.


9. rocks that have been rolled smooth by the waves.


10. music. at the moment, chick rock that borders on folk and a bit of jazz. (yael naim, feist, leona naess, regina spektor, kate nash).


11. helleristninger (nordic petroglyphs).


12. ancient graffiti.

lamps in the grand bazaar in istanbul


contemporary rug design in the grand bazaar in istanbul


a mosaic at stobi in central macedonia

design blogs

i'm looking at a lot of design blogs. there are a LOT of them out there and what they share, for the most part, is great, inspiring photography, so i feel a bit like my blog now looks very boring. however, i'm here to remedy that. this picture was taken by me in the grand bazaar in istanbul last summer. i adore the colors and the lighting and the way it transports me back there when i look at it. it inspires me and i want to have something similar in my writing house when it's finished this summer. and in fact, when i was in cape town in november, i bought a bunch of beads for it in a wonderful bead store. i can't wait to put them together and begin to decorate my writing house.