AL-Monitor Istanbul: Mesher Gallery's love letter to the city

Leading the week: A love letter to Istanbul

Istanbul has never just been a city. It has always been much more — a stage and a muse, for Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, who awakes in Istanbul and finds herself transformed, for James Bond in his high-stakes chases along the Bosphorus, and for many others. Istanbul continues to be imagined, reimagined, and immortalized in literature and on screen. “The Story Unfolds in Istanbul,” Mesher’s latest exhibition, has stitched the city’s narratives together as if a well-thumbed novel.

Curated by Ebru Esra Satici and Seyda Cetin, the exhibition draws from the private collection of Omer Koc, an art collector and the chairman of Koç Holding, to present 300 rare books, manuscripts, film posters, and ephemera anchored in Istanbul. Among them are Pierre Loti’s handwritten harem tale “Aziyade,” posh adventuress (and Woolf muse for Orlando) Vita Sackville-West’s “Poems of West and East,” and Eric Ambler's “The Light of Day,” the inspiration for the cult-classic heist film “Topkapi.” 

In the exhibition, the “Orlando” poster faces a particularly decadent relic — a bejeweled cigarette case gifted to Loti by Sultan Abdulhamid II. More modest curiosities include a French cigarette jar named the “Tete de Turc” (Turk’s head) and figurines of two jolly Janissaries. 

Mesher has long explored shifting reflections of Istanbul in the Western imagination. “Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See” (2023) visually captured five centuries of the city’s identity with panoramic depictions spanning from 1493 to the early 20th century. 

This year, the curators have swapped sweeping cityscapes for the written word — grand epics, intimate diary entries and overlooked gems by the literary greats, including Jules Verne’s “Keraban, the Inflexible.”

Date: Through July 13

Location: Mesher Gallery

Word on the street: The unromantic five

Fat-free unsinewed mince and bulgur balls with yogurt. (Engin Emre Tokur @Ciyasofrası Instagram)

If you intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day, you have presumably already secured your table in advance at one of the romantic spots we’ve raved about — among them Olden 1772 and a Michelin-starred sanctuary of gastronomic delights. If you’re in the mood for an anti-Valentine dinner, however, here are five exceptional restaurants where lovebirds dare not linger:

• Ciya — Chef Musa Dagdeviren's brainchild in Kadikoy and living archive of Anatolian flavors where village recipes find a second life on bustling communal tables. Featured on Netflix's “Chef’s Table” and known from the award-winning “Turkish Cookbook,” Dagdeviren’s restaurant is many things, but not a candlelit dining spot.
• Develi — In the posh Etiler neighborhood, serving sizzling kebabs and golden, pistachio-dusted katmer with the kind of excellence that keeps families flocking back, as does its unwavering enthusiasm for group dining.
• Fistik Kebap — At buzzling Ortakoy, delivering pistachio kebabs and crisp lahmacun in a no-frills setting packed with locals who know their meat.
• Haci Abdullah — On Istiklal Avenue, a grand dame of Ottoman cuisine offering slow-cooked lamb and syrupy desserts. Between the family crowds and bustling waiters, murmuring sweet nothings might require a megaphone.
• Askana Manti — Locations in Gokturk, Maslak and Ulus, Istanbul’s temple of Turkish dumplings, served up in smothering garlicky yogurt and butter. The food is delicious, but not exactly romance on a plate.

Istanbul diary

“Wall Graffiti Carpet,” tapestry by Gulcin Aksoy (Depo)

• Depo hosts “I Had Something on My Mind,” an exhibition dedicated to the artist and academic Gulcin Aksoy, who passed away last year. Running through March 28, it features previously unseen photography, drawings and textiles reflecting Aksoy’s explorations of the human body, nature and power.
• If your true love is design, check out Raffles Istanbul’s Masters of Design (MOD), bringing together Turkey’s top designers and their products, including Bago’s nature-inspired accessories and H by Hakan Yildirim’s minimalist fashion. Open through March 9.
• The “New and Newest Music Festival” returns to Arter, February 20 – 23, featuring avant-garde composers, sound installations and experimental performances. Highlights include Alvin Curran and the Breton bagpipe ensemble Sonneurs. More here.