Cemile Sahin YOU MEASURE HEIGHT, 2025
Epoxy resin panel with embedded acrylic flowers
35 x 25 cm
The panels feature acrylic flowers encased in epoxy resin. Bright colors, artificiality, glossy surfaces, and sparkly motifs are stylistic elements that Sahin uses to address complex themes through a pop-cultural lens. With these panels, the artist plays with the aesthetics of oversized nail art and the stereotypical ideas which might consider flowers and extra-long gel nails devalued attributes of femininity.
Flowers and their cultural associations have also been a topic addressed in Sahin's recent film installations, BB — Born to Bloom. The work uses two flowers as metaphors: on the one hand, Gula Xemgîn, the "sad flower," representing the Kurdish myth that one can only be truly free in the mountains. And on the other, the Geranium, adorning balconies and gardens throughout Switzerland, where the flowers are such a familiar feature of the Swiss landscape that their red color was incorporated into the TAZ 83 camouflage suit.
Flowers and their cultural associations have also been a topic addressed in Sahin's recent film installations, BB — Born to Bloom. The work uses two flowers as metaphors: on the one hand, Gula Xemgîn, the "sad flower," representing the Kurdish myth that one can only be truly free in the mountains. And on the other, the Geranium, adorning balconies and gardens throughout Switzerland, where the flowers are such a familiar feature of the Swiss landscape that their red color was incorporated into the TAZ 83 camouflage suit.