#mappingistanbul

[mapyourmemories]

With turkey in the tummy and turkey in the fridge, figured there's no better time to throw another gorgeous Turkey map up here. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! 

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Translator's note: "Kat" means floor as well as layer, so it's kind of a pun on floors and floors/layers and layers of Istanbul. "Kat kat" is also a Turkish expression that means to exaggerate.  

[mapyourmemories]

A thirteen-year-old fisherman, who I ran into by the pier, talked about Istanbul. "You are probably living the real Istanbul, getting its real taste," I told him. "No," he said, "Istanbul has lost its taste." How can a little kid know what Istanbul tastes like...

  Sometimes the only thing I want from Istanbul is a cup of tea. A warm cup of tea that I can enjoy while sitting back and relaxing. Then you can forget everything else... Everything, everyone looks beautiful then. People are beautiful for just that second, but oh beautiful people,why have you become so unsightly? You were so beautiful when you were babies... You were born, you've grown up and now you're adults, a grown up man, or a woman, let's say, a grown woman with a thin waist. (According to my translator, this image doubles as a reference to thin-waisted Turkish tea cups, like the one illustrated on the map.)

  It is easier to imagine Istanbul that way. Let Istanbul be elegant, let Istanbul be a loving mother... A soft wind that sways your hair on the ferry. Let Istanbul be history, a museum, an old painting from centuries ago. Let it be all those beautiful things, making people happy. Let it be a fishing boat in Çengelköy or a workshop in Kuzguncuk. Let it be a tree, a forest, a school. Let it be the book in a student's hand. Let it be a heart, big enough though for everyone. Or else people will be jealous...

[mapyourmemories]

Thanks Monocle for this behind-the-scenes look at the Istanbul Design Biennial -- aka the reason I was lucky enough to drink my weight in Turkish coffee two weeks ago. (See if you can spot Mapping Manhattan at around the 4-minute mark!) Istanbul Maps are coming in -- will post here very soon! And for any of you passing through Istanbul in the next few weeks, the Mapping Manhattan pieces will be on display through December 14th!

[mapyourmemories]

Woman: “We just got married last week. We’re at the cello store looking for a new hobby.” Man: “Can we map it together?”

[mapyourmemories]

Milky-eyed bookseller in Beyazit narrates his story to Sera: “I came here in 1952 then travelled the world as a soldier on Ataturk’s old ship….”

[mapyourmemories]

SO. EXCITED.