Above: Detail of 4,213 cigarette butts collected and dated for exhibition in the Museum of Innocence
When those visiting my museum note that beneath where each of the 4,213 cigarette butts is carefully pinned, I have indicated the date of its retrieval. I hope they will not grow impatient, thinking I am crowding the display cases with distracting trivia: Each cigarette butt in its own unique way records Fusun’s deepest emotions at the moment she stubbed it out.”
Kemal, the main character and the narrator of Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
Nothing I could possibly dream up could convey obsession with such immediate clarity.
The top quotation from Kemal’s thoughts in Orhan Pamuk’s 2009 novel, Museum of Innocence, does not appear until Chapter 68 of the 83-chapter book. The entire chapter is devoted to these fetish souvenirs of unobtainable love.
Continue reading “Postcard from Istanbul, Turkey: A far from innocent obsession”
Postcards from Barton Springs 