Sabire Susuz (Turkish, b. 1967)

Each brand or label, which builds up the image in Sabire Susuz's works, is not fastened on the surface; instead it is simply pinned to the fabric. This concept emphasizes the notion of branding, how an individual identifies himself with a brand, and how much of our daily lives is unavoidably dictated and covered by brands. Susuz's works constitute a bridge between sub-structures of photography and digital-art. The image taken or selected by the artist forms the sub-fiction of a painting, following a so-called 'pixelization' process. In the work entitled Gold is Gold, the artist changes the feelings and ideas usually associated to a hand grenade, such as fear, anxiety, war, death, by making the grenade gold. Gold is a commodity which is valuable and desirable by everyone universally. In the present work, although the object depicted by Susuz is a hand grenade, 'gold is gold' and hence remains an object of desire. Susuz's work has multiple layers of interpretations, as it could also be a reference to the economy during wartimes as well as a criticism on weapon industry.