The Searchers

30 years ago backpacking through Turkey My university friends and I found a little art gallery in Istanbul. We lacked the funds to buy the amazing life-sized collages of women dancing but swapped our brightly coloured clothes for ink sketches and this poster. Last week I tried to track down Mr Atalay whose Facebook profile seemed to indicate that he now had three adult children who were also artists. I was thrown back in time finding the hostel where we had slept on the roof and awoken to find ourselves next to Aya Sofia, and followed the little path down to the gallery only to find the doors locked and local shop keepers told us he’d just disappeared about a year ago. I doubt I’ll find out what happened to him but the pictures still hang in my house and this poster in the kitchen.