Nelly Atamuratova is a young artist living in The Republic of Moldova; she was my student when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Nelly has recently branched out from painting and drawing into photography. She sends me emails of images from Moldova, Romania, and Turkey and I edit them for her in Photoshop. It’s a creative and collaborative way for us to share our art and our lives across the continents.
[Istanbul, Turkey – 2010 – © Nelly Atamuratova]
Hello Melly,
I went to Haia Sophia with my Mom’s good Turkish friend, Memed. My Mom was so busy, so she gave him to me as a guide. 🙂 He couldn’t speak in English, Romanian, or Russian but only in Turkish; l do not speak Turkish and so it was very funny. When we entered inside the Haia Sophia l fell in love immediately. There were so many people. I was envious that they were looking at the same murals and walls as me… l became very possessive and thought that all l see was created somehow just for me. Then l saw a cat, she was walking alone, so proud of herself, and l started to laugh. l asked the security guy about that cat, and he said: “she lives here” she watches me and works security through the crowd. Later on l saw this door, it was closed but l could see the light peeking through, and l just stood in front of it and admired it. Memed was watching me and could not understand what the … l was looking at? 🙂 l only took one picture as I wanted to have the time to admire each thing, each column, each fresco, everything…
l love Istanbul!
Love,
Nelly