KARA KABUK / BLACK MUSSEL 2009

İstanbul’da hava henüz ağarıyor. Gökyüzü pembe, mor, sarı, mavi. Rumeli Kavağı’nda küçük tekneler kıyıda usul usul sallanıyor. Teknelerin diğer yanı kara. Toprak yolun üstünde barakalar yıkık dökük. Güneş içlerine tozlarını serperken uzun hareketli gölgeler içlerinde beliriyor. Denizde çuvallarda midyeler var. Durgun suyun altında simsiyah parlıyor. Kocaman ellerin kalın parmakları çuvalları suyun dibinden bir çekişte çıkarıyor. Plastik kasaların üzerine ahşap kalaslar konuyor. Tezgah oluyor. Midyeler üzerine şıngır mıngır dökülüyor. Daha önceki günlerden biri başlıyor. Gölge ahşap kalasın arkasına yerleşiyor kambur. Bir sonraki çuvala kadar yerinden kalkmayacak. Elindeki bıçağı midye kabuğunun arasına soktukça üç beş paraya elleri büyüyor,üç beş paraya gölgesi kısalıyor. Nasıl kısalıyor anlatıyor. THE DARK MUSSEL The sun has just risen in Istanbul. The colour of the sky is pink, purple, yellow and blue. Small boats are gently swaying in the water in Rumeli Kavagi. Sheds and shacks line the path way and sunshine lights up dust within them, while long moving shadows appear. There are bags of mussels in the sea. They shine black under the calm water. Thick fingers take the sacks from the deep water. Plastic boxes are placed on wooden planks then they become benches. After that the mussels are poured onto the wood. One more day is starting… Wooden planks are placed in the shade for the hunchbacked man and he will not stand up before the next sack arrives. He holds a knife and wedges it into each mussel. For 3 to 5 coins his shadow gets shorter. He tells his story. ‘ I can remove the mussels from the shell clam, but I can not get out of here’ Boats come to life as engines start. The men are going to get mussels from the sea. They look for mussels and they find them. One boat stops and they throw their big nets into the water. The other boat stops as well and two big dark-skinned men dive into the water. Mussels in the bottom of the water are held together with thin strands. The divers hold their breath at the bottom of the water. Their hands are extended to the shells. For three to five coins the men dive to take them from the bottom. They tell how they take them from the bottom. At the bottom of the sea mussels live attached to each other like people because we hold each other as well. .. Life is so difficult so we work hard to achieve something. Days are old the shade is old the knife is old…Childhood, old age, the womanhood, the manhood and their hands get old here. They take the meat from inside the shell, and empty shells are collected in the bottom of the counter.. There are baby mussels on the shells. If they don’t go back to the sea they will die. Shovels pick up the empty shells and they carry the shells to the sacks. And then the bags are dumped into the sea again… They go to the bottom of the sea for 3, 5 coins. This is their fate… They tell how they go to the bottom of the sea. You can take mussels from the sea but you can do this job just to earn your meal…