The city Izmir in Turkey has always been a big part of my life, although I have only been living here since the past 4 years, I have however been coming and going from here my entire life. One of my strongest memories of Izmir is the famous clock tower in the city centre, around the clock you will always find pigeons and people selling seeds for you to feed them. I always remember as a child buying seeds and feeding them, and as every child does, I loved to chase after them.

A very famous quote used in Turkey; “Caysiz sohbet, aysiz gok yuzu gibidir” (Conversations without tea are like a night sky without the moon) It is hard to imagine breakfasts, social gatherings, business meetings, or ferry rides across the Aegean sea in Turkey without the presence of tea. With tea servers in streets, shopping malls, and parks shouting, “ÇAY!” the beverage is always within shouting distance. It is fundamental to Turkish social life.

Ment The moment I would step off the plane the first thing I would see was palm trees lining the road, palm trees for me were always one of the main reasons I wanted to move to Turkey, I always wanted palm trees of my own growing in the garden, as living in the UK we never had them, palm trees always remind me of sunshine, beaches and happy family times. So when we finally moved here, one of the first thing to be done was that we planted palm trees in our garden.

Turkish flag, red with a vertical white crescent moon and white five-pointed star centred just outside the crescent opening; the flag colours and designs closely resemble those on the banner of Ottoman Empire, which preceded modern-day Turkey; the crescent moon and star serve as insignia for the Turks, as well as being traditional symbols of Islam; according to legend, the flag represents the reflection of the moon and a star in a pool of blood of Turkish warriors. Turkish people are extremely proud of their country and respect their history and warriors immensely. Anywhere you go in Turkey you will always see the Turkish flag hanging from buildings and see people walking the streets selling them.

I have begun sculpting a memorable box with clay. I wanted to create a box using clay for 2 reasons, the first being memories are very precious, so I wanted to keep my memories in a container that is fragile and needs to be handled with care, as do memories. The second reason being, in Turkey, ceramic pots are very traditional and are commonly used in everyday life here.

Most weeks, my mother and I go to the Pazar or “ bazaar” as they call it in English, there to buy our groceries for the week: A kilo of onions, two kilos of potatoes, another two of tomatoes, everything here is sold in kilos. Turkey is very famous for their pazars, once a week they come to town and throughout the week travel from town to town. It truly is amazing, you can find everything from fruit and vegetables to shoes and clothes. Before living in Turkey we always made sure that we were in the right town on the Pazar day. When we moved here, being able to go multiple times a week when we wanted was just incredible. All of the fruits and vegetables are home- grown and farmed by the locals in the town. The locals selling their produces are always so kind and helpful, making sure you have picked all of the best of their wares. They truly are remarkable people.

Drinking Turkish tea with simit is the traditional way in Turkish culture. You can see many simit pedlers on the street. Those pedlers usually carry their simit trays on their heads. Simit is generally served plain, or for breakfast with tea with jelly, jam or cheese. When in the city you can often hear the simit pedlers in the streets with simit trays balanced on their heads shouting ‘ Taze simit’ which means fresh simit in English.

I decided to create a 3D prospection of the seeds which we buy and feed to the pigeons in the city square, by the famous Konak clock Tower.