work · field reading

Antakya, after rupture.

Longitudinal fieldwork at two damaged sacred sites—Habib-i Neccar Mosque and St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church—after the 2023 earthquakes. This page follows one trace to show how iz reads beyond the object. A new field layer follows in 2026.

One trace, followed into its relationships

A conventional survey stops at the first line: the courtyard edge collapsed. iz keeps reading—each observation opening onto the next relation, until the object becomes a field.

the trace
A collapsed courtyard edge
The physical fact a damage survey records: a broken threshold at the mosque's perimeter.
→ opens onto
Restricted access
A safety fence follows the collapse. Who may enter, and from where, is quietly redrawn.
→ opens onto
Displaced everyday activity
The gathering, waiting, and small daily uses of the courtyard move elsewhere—or stop.
→ opens onto
An altered ritual relation
Prayer and observance continue, but reshaped around absence—carried by presence, not structure.
→ opens onto
Institutional authority
What is fenced, listed, or scheduled for repair decides which of these relations the record will recognize.

The object was one line. The relationships were the place.

From the field

The reading rests on real material—photographs, annotated details, and map fragments from the site. These will be placed here.

[ Antakya field photograph — Habib-i Neccar Mosque, courtyard edge. Replace with real image. ]
[ Annotated map fragment — access before / after. Replace with real image. ]
The reading, in three questions
What was observed

People returning to the two sites—praying, gathering, tending thresholds—before any structure was restored.

The relation the trace revealed

Worship and belonging continuing through the community's presence, not the building's survival.

What the record missed

Official assessments logged structural damage; they did not register the living practice still holding the place.

The instrument, applied

The Four-Quadrant Framework maps the same site across two axes—so the unofficial and intangible enter the picture beside the listed and the built.

tangibleintangible
tangible · officialThe listed mosque and church fabric; official damage assessments.
tangible · unofficialThresholds, informal repairs, the objects people carry back in.
intangible · officialScheduled restoration, designated religious function.
intangible · unofficialDaily prayer, waiting, memory, and care that continue without a plaque.
officialunofficial

A field reading in progress. Specific findings are drawn from fieldwork conducted in 2023–2024 and will be extended in the 2026 season; details on this page will be refined as that work is documented.