BYZANTINE GRIFFIN
For centuries under the street she devours some small creature. I love this Byzantine griffin, down under the the Arasta Bazaar. While drawing her, I sold a copy of my first book to a 14-year-old art connoisseur, there with his mother who worked at the US Consulate. It was the first time I ever signed one of my books, and is that fun!
SPHENDONE GHOST HOUSE
-Today, kids shrieking / Thuds of kicked balls & many loud bangs on this Bayram 25 October 2006 – Once erased can never be replaced—–The Sphendone is the rounded seaward bulkhead of the Hippodrome. Since the 2ndCentury or so, it’s held up the Sultanahmet and everything on it. Over the years, people built their houses onto it and generations lived in them. Around 2003, the government tore all the houses off, leaving these reminders behind, like the broken porcelain remains at center in the drawing.
The 1700-year-old bulkhead above the parking lot. On Wednesdays, there’s a whole market set up here below the ancient brickwork.
Inside the Sphendone, I am told, is water. Years ago the History Channel went in there by canoe. In the photo above you can just barely make out the arch drawn at right.
SPHENDONE PARKING LOT ARCH
-Once every arch in the Sphendone- the Hippodrome- was the same as every other / But now each tells its own story
SPHENDONE STREET HOUSE
-Sultanahmet- Old wooden house in front of the Hippodrome Wall- 30 August 2006 / How I long to draw the pack of cackling scarves women watching me draw- but alas they say No. They did bring me tea, though.
