As Antioch Endures its Seventh Month in the Dust

Wonder and curiosity, kept alive throughout history by the irregular colors that appear as one descends from Mount Amanus to the Amik Valley, are mixed with a sense of uneasiness these days. The dust that mixes with the air in Antioch (Tr. Antakya), which breathes where the Orontes meets the Mediterranean, is nothing but processed history returning to foreign matter. In this landscape, there are disagreements about which building has ceased to be itself. On a building wall that was under demolition order and annulment lawsuit, someone spray-painted the words “[MY] COURT / NOT DEMOLISHED, WILL NOT BE DEMOLISHED” in red.