Living Examples Of Life

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{ Part 1 } Bazaar: Food

Corn, red-pepper, plum, strawberry, beans, tomato, courgette, peach, melon, water melon, egg, lettuce, fish, salmon, potato, eggplant, bell pepper, pineapple, kiwi, apricot, grape, green apple, red apple, cherry...

All of my photographs tell of 'bazaar' time:) As in many towns of Turkey, in Istanbul too, there are 'district markets' and they are called by the district, or the day they take place, and are visited by a great number of people. They are set once a week. This is called 'Goztepe Pazari' in my district, and to be set up every Monday.

At the mere mention of Istanbul the names of dozens of markets pour from my lips: the Egyptian Market, Eminonu Market, the Fish Market, the Grand Bazaar (Turkish: Kapalicarsi), and various district markets, so on... They are at the same time the monuments of Istanbul in motion. In Turkish language, the term of ''carsi-pazar'' (English: Market-bazaar) is repeated together, like how in old houses the broad entrance yard linking home and street was called 'life'.

When I want to shop -in particular fresh organic foods-, and come out of the gloomy solitude inside of me and mix in the hum of crowds, the place I go is the market-bazaar:)

Life is what is waiting to stir when someone reaches out to touch it, in the melancholy repose of objects stacked up side by side waiting to join the flow of someone's life, the fleetingness of time gleaming in the vitality at flower tables, clothes waiting to be wrapped around the warmth, the scenth of flesh in order to come alive, meals where short-lived fruits and vegetables and fish lying on trays will be served, doors which keys hanging lined up on walls will open, plates waiting to be set on tables, dozens of objects waiting to be used. All in all, life is waiting to flow from markets to homes.

Going to market make me feel refreshed. Sometimes it revitalizes my distracted minds. It reminds me to hope. It solidifies the sense of tomorrow. To me, shopping is at the same time to imagine lives. Because it opens me up to others' lives, to their homes, their rooms, their kitches, their stories...

Markets are at the same time places where colors test their mettle all the way to the end, not only colors but shapes too. One single color spreading through dozens, hundreds of the same object grouped on the tables in one part of a market seems to renew their visibility. They become ''color markets'' inside of the market like they are neighbourhood markets inside the City. Sometimes fruits or vegetables piled up along the tables give a sovereignity to one single color that conquers our eyes. Then, the whole world is suddenly pepper-red, or lemon-yellow. Red is redder than I've ever seen it, yellow is yellower than it's ever seen before. So our eyes become new. I rediscover inside me the life I look at all the time:)

Markets are living examples of how life is produced, and reproduced. The world is what multiplies from parts, it makes us live out the multiple joy of grace, it tells us the ''nature of things''.

Only fruits, vegetables or objects cannot wait. Vendors can. Sometimes while they wait they get lost in thoughts, their faces drift off to other times, sometimes they doze. The expression deepening in their faces tells me it's no longer just a customer they're waiting for. Even they don't know what they're waiting for.

The district bazaars usually begin to be set at 9:00AM, and every kind of shopping is available until dark. The late hours are the market of low-income families of the poor, and homeless people. Bazaar (Turkish: Pazar) provides them a great deal of economy. From the freshest of all kinds of veges and fruits to clothings, textiles, shoes, decorative accessories, imported goods from Far-East for every corner of the house (bath, kitchen, living room, garden etc.) are being sold at very reasonable prices at Pazars.

Oh, no surprise when seeing brands such as Paul and Shark, Valentino, Armani, Polo, or Lacoste; because they are all phony, anyhow it's easy to understand on its price:) Let me remind you they're quite qualified, and noone can easily understand the difference but I do always keep in mind that no imitation can replace the original;)

{ Part 2 } Bazaar: Others

Flowers, imported goods, household appliances, socks, textile products, clothing, shoes, jewelries...

To take life up and bring it home...

Maybe that's what it is go to marketplaces, bazaars...

Today's Turkish Currency:
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USD/TL = 1,25
EUR/TL = 1,93
GBP/TL = 2,42
EUR/USD = 1.55
GBP/USD = 1.97

TL (Turkish Lira) is divided into 100 kurus.