Çiğdem Yüksel
Çiğdem Yüksel
If only you knew
‘If only you knew’ is the title of Çiğdem Yüksel’s solo exhibition, which can be seen in the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until the end of May 2025. Through photos, video, audio, text and textiles, she tells the stories of the first generation of Turkish women in the Netherlands – women like her grandmother. She also examines the dream-like image she has of her grandmother, who passed away when Yüksel was 14.
To make the memory of her grandmother as tangible as possible, Yüksel tried tufting for the first time. In collaboration with the TextielLab and furniture maker Noor Bouterse, she made tufted seating objects. These are decorated with patterns and colours from her grandmother’s clothing: repeating floral patterns in a single pile height, in warm browns, ecru and black that remind Yüksel of sitting on her grandmother’s lap. In the exhibition, the objects form part of an installation that includes various tufted works and a video installation.
Photos by Marysia Swietlicka
Commissioned by Çiğdem Yüksel and producer Prospektor
