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Sermin Kardestuncer

“Live Life (dedicated to Baba),” 2008–2019, Socks, cotton filling, thread, a framed B & W photograph on fabric, 18 X 24 X 2 inches

“I wrote an homage to my father and his summer home in Ayvalik, Turkey after he died in 2015. The B & W photo used in this work, ‘Live Life,’ is taken in front of this home. ‘Hayati yasa,’ (‘Live life’ in Turkish) he said, when I rushed to visit him at his bedside a few months before he died and when he was loosing all cognitive abilities. Since then, I search for the hidden meaning or a message to ‘Live Life.’ By stitching the words on soft fabric that hangs from each side of the photograph like gentle gloves, I try to gain courage to live up to his wishes.“