Ishtar Gate
The story of Ishtar tells of a journey into the underworld through seven gates. At every gate, she gave up something she carried, making each step deeper both a loss and a transformation.
When I arrived at the Threshold, I found ten doors waiting. This time, to continue following Alice, I chose the Ishtar Door.
The Threshold
The Threshold is the point of entry into Alice in Wonderland: Istanbul in the Mirror of Time.
It is where the search begins, for Alice and for the act of seeing itself.
Standing between city and body, light and darkness, certainty and doubt, this chapter builds the conceptual map of the journey ahead: a passage through gates of time and presence.
Before entering the story, one must first cross the threshold.
No Place, No City
Last year, I saw Alice in Istanbul.
The same girl who once took a boat trip with her uncle and accidentally became part of one of the world's most famous stories.
This is the first chapter of the second season of my search for her. This year, I'm less interested in finding Alice and more interested in understanding what brought her to Istanbul.
A journey through photography, light, and the city itself.
When the fall turns into a sun
I did not follow Alice because I knew where she was going.
I followed her because she disappeared.
She appeared only once in Istanbul, and then, quite naturally, disappeared, as all Alices do. Perhaps she slipped between moments, or perhaps she fell into her hole, where journeys begin by mistake and continue through curiosity. From that instant, the city became a question, and my work became a search.