two-point.livejournal.com ([identity profile] two-point.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] twopoint 2009-04-25 01:55 am (UTC)

I thought the same thing before visiting, that Istanbul was a conservative country, but it's not at all. Headscarves are outlawed at universities and the country has been a secular democracy since the early twentieth century. They've had a woman president (still wondering if that is possible in the US), prostitution is legal - leading to my latest project: a series of interviews and photos of transvestites from the Beyoglu district - a short block from our house. There are clubs, much alcohol being consumed day and night, and a thriving arts scene. There are 15 million people in Istanbul proper - it's massive. My favorite spots remind me of what Paris would have felt like in the '20's - lots of ex-pats, lots of dark cafes with bedraggled poets scribbling away and lots of activism, every street corner.

I got my nose pierced on the last trip and the gorgeous goddess doing the work was all like: "That's it? Don't you want something better?"

It's far more repressed in my corner of the American south. I've made it my life's work to let the world know what the European side of Turkey is really like. There are parts of Istanbul that remind me of what Prague was like before the tourists got a hold of it (not that I don't want to be in Prague - I will certainly accept a ticket to go there at any moment).

When I look at an icon I'm always seeing the primitive gods that inspired it - your dueling philosophies work. I'm going to show up on your door one day for that tattoo.

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