Exhibition view: List Projects 32: Elif Saydam, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2025. Photo: Julia Featheringill
Curator Tour: List Projects 32: Elif Saydam
Please join Curatorial Assistant, Zach Ngin for an exhibition walk through of List Projects 32: Elif Saydam.
Saydam’s paintings are rich with references to the history of the medium, particularly so-called “minor” genres like miniature painting and illuminated manuscripts. Their textual sources are equally eclectic, ranging from twelfth-century Persian poetry and Larry Mitchell’s The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions (1977) to the slogans of contemporary social movements. Saydam also experiments with painting on unconventional surfaces and supports, including antique bathroom stall doors, anti-shoplifting mirrors, and kitchen sponges.
This tour will uncover the historical and art historical references at play in their detailed work on view.