I am mourning with the people in Turkey and in Syria about the loss of lives and livelihoods in the region of the earthquake.

Nusret Özdemir at the banks of the river Euphrates looking for suitable rocks for the background of the Ayvalik mosaic. He taught me how to inspect rocks to find out if they are suitable for making tesserae out of it.

In 2015 I spent a whole month in the city of Gaziantep learning and working together with Nusret Özdemir, a mosaic master and former security guard of the archeological museum Zeugma where the most beautiful mosaics were discovered in the last century. In his workshop we made the figures of the Ayvalik Mosaic – a project I did in 2015-16 to recreate a whole mosaic floor in ancient technique.

from right Nusret, Tahir and me at the Ayvalik Mosaic

During that month I was living in a flat share in Gaziantep with Ayse Ebru Corbaci who is the lead conservationist of the Gaziantep district.

Ayse, me and Nusret working on the Ayvalik Mosaic in Nusret’s workshop in Gaziantep

I have heard that both are well and their houses are still standing. I haven’t heard about the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep and also the situation at the archeological site. We will get to know about the conditions of these truly magnificent cultural heritage places – first is the care for the people that are insured and have lost their houses.

Inside the shelter building that protects archeological findings at the Zeugma archeological site.