I have always loved sculptures of every kind, every shape and theme. Akdeniz or Mediterranean was the one I fell in love with at first sight. It’s a sculpture created by one of Turkey’s best-known mid-20th-century sculptors, İlhan Koman. When I first met this sculpture, it was out in the open for everyone to observe that it was moved in front of Yapı Kredi Headquarters in Levent.

Unfortunately, people protesting Israel vandalised the sculpture, so then it was off the grid for some time, at least until a couple of years ago, when it was moved to a location where it is visible from the third floor of the Yapı Kredi Culture Art building that was newly constructed on İstiklal Street. I think it’s the most awkward location for such a mesmerising sculpture to lie, but it’s protected, it’s isolated and you can talk with her as quiet and undisturbed as possible. 

This is Koman’s best known monumental sculpture. It’s of a woman with arms spread wide, ‘Akdeniz/Mediterranean’, nicknamed by fellow artists ‘the spaghetti woman’. 

This sculpture is a beautiful way to perceive the modern art productions of Turkish Art History.