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The Man From the Brothel
Istanbul
The diverse, dynamic city of Istanbul symbolizes the contradictions at play in Turkey’s culture—it is a place of acceptance and judgment, community and alienation, freedom and restriction, life and death. Encapsulating the full spectrum of…
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The Intercontinental Hotel
The Intercontinental Hotel is a symbol of Turkey’s politically oppressive political regime. During the International Workers’ Day protest for equality in 1977, at the height of communist revolution in Istanbul, an estimated 500,000 students…
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The Cemetery of the Companionless
Kilyos’s Cemetery of the Companionless, where Leila’s body is initially buried, symbolizes the systemic dehumanization of Turkey’s marginalized people. It is a place where the unwanted and unclaimed are laid to rest—those without family…
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Water
In all its various forms—rivers, seas, and rains—water represents connection and evolution. When Leila is born, the midwife rinses her with holy water from the Zamzam Well. Her father hopes she will be “pure as…
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The Blue Betta Fish
Leila’s blue betta fish represents the cyclical nature of life and death, the idea that time is neither linear nor finite. Released into a creek on the day Leila is born—a cultural superstition intended…
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