Ottoman Empire is the piece in this collection which speaks most powerfully to travel as a portal in to other worlds. Forever drawn to cultures different than my own, I find travel in Muslim countries to be incredibly interesting, invigorating and rewarding. This box was first covered with photographs I took on my trips to Istanbul and the island of Cyprus. I added other bits of found papers, such as a page from a book in Arabic I picked up in the Grand Bazaar, before staining the papers with acrylic paint. I covered a wood manikin with cheesecloth and stained that as well, before soaking his turban in coffee to stain it. I positioned the figure in the box, and began adding embellishments. These include medallions from the Hagia Sofya, antique optician lenses, bits of old jewelry and a drawer plate, and some Arabic coins. The photos inside the box are of a mosque on the Bosphorus,  and the old train station on the Asian side of that same river. The front cover combines a photograph of a walkway in Nicosia, Cyprus and a page from an Arabic book, and the back cover is a photograph of a building in the old walled city of Nicosia.  8" x 11" x 3" closed