Elif Saydam: Glory

The exhibition "Glory" presents an installation of Elif Saydam's signature miniature works, alongside a new series of larger diptychs in oil, collage and silverleaf. Using an art-historical misunderstanding of Medieval landscapes – whereby gilded silver depicting wells, springs and bodies of water has patinated over centuries, turning black – these works explore the widening abyss of misrecognition between notions of pleasure and pain, benevolence and malice, trash and treasure.

Elif Saydam (b. 1985, Calgary) currently lives and works between Berlin and Izmir. Through an expanded painting practice, they deploy the language of ornamentation and decoration to rearrange systems of valuation and emphasis. Recent solo exhibitions include List Projects 32 at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2025); Saving Nine in der Kunsthal Thy (2025); Hospitality at Audain Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (2024). Recent group exhibitions include the 18th Istanbul Biennial: The Three Legged Cat, Istanbul (2025), A Crack We Sprout Through at SANATORIUM, Istanbul (2024); die Wissen at nGbK, Berlin, and at TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol (2023); Lose Enden, Kunsthalle Bern (2021).