“Within”

SUZY HUG-LÉVY

March 11, 1997 - March 29, 1997

● Artist Suzy Hug-Lévy, with her women's clothing sculptures using materials such as wire, metal, and rubber, is sending light into the creative world of a female artist on International Women's Day.

● The work, which features sculpture, performance, video, and music, can be viewed at the Milli Reasürans Art Gallery starting March 11th.

● The artist's work, "Roots/Our/Ours," exhibited as part of Habitat-2 last year, was invited to the Design Lanscape Forum at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

“Nature is something to be exploited, and so is woman. But women are also taught to be watchers, to break their own chains, and to close the doors of their own prison cells upon themselves.” These words belong to Murray Boachim. Artist Suzy Hug-Lévy dedicates her exhibition, "Within," to all women on March 8th, International Women's Day, "with the belief that women, as individuals, must liberate themselves from this situation as soon as possible."

The exhibition combines sculpture, performance, and video techniques for an installation. The artist explains that her aim is not simply to present a work of art to the audience, but to create a work that raises questions and encourages viewers to ask questions in return.

The sculptures in the exhibition are made of various materials, including wire, steel mesh, springs, thin tubes, nails, sheets or strips of copper and brass, rubber, felt, and paper, fashioned into women's garments evocative of various eras. Considering the characteristics of the materials, the sculptures' elegance and aesthetics are striking. Although metal is predominant, no welding, riveting, or screwing is used. Metal strips are sewn, wire mesh is attached, rubber strips are knitted with large needles, felt is knitted, and paper is twisted and dipped in special slurries. This resulted in various forms. The familiar nails transformed into the taffeta adorning the skirt of a dress.

The artist says, “First, I gave up my hands, then I wandered the streets, getting to know all the scrap dealers and material vendors.” He didn't use gloves because he couldn't feel the material and couldn't fully master it when shaping it. He then experimented extensively and was ultimately able to shape it with unique techniques. When choosing his materials, the artist emphasizes the woman's strength and aesthetics of form—materials familiar to us and bearing witness to our lives. The unexpected ways these materials take on astonishing forms surprises the viewer. The artist says he is excited to search for, select, and use these materials, but is also careful not to be captivated by their magic.

In essence, the sculptures are symbols. They appear to be like clothing. However, they remind the viewer of the woman inside, of the female body. But what about the woman inside… And the realities… The artist aims to create different impressions in the viewer through these shifts between appearance, fantasy, and reality. In this way, the sculptures take on meaning beyond mere clothing in the viewer's eye. Are these elegant yet rigid dresses, made of solid and formal materials, cells in which women are confined by their own hands? Are these molds shaped for women from birth by family, religious institutions, school, and traditions/customs? Why are their arms long? Why are they joined together? Where are the women inside the clothes? The artist says, "The body is fragmented and recreated each time by different factors. Through the clothes, I want to evoke this fragmentation in the viewer, psychologically and emotionally."

Suzy Hug-Lévy states that traditional art materials are insufficient for her to express her feelings and thoughts about the changes and developments in the world. She aims to present her artworks through performance, video, sound, and music, thus achieving a more holistic narrative. She states that in doing so, she strives not to be narrative.

In a performance designed for this exhibition and performed with the accompaniment of four dancers, the dancers enter various forms made of various materials. Their dances and movements within these forms create an impression. This impression, along with the sculptures, gives new meaning to the exhibition. The live performance performed during the opening of the exhibition was also videotaped by Ani Çelik Arevyan. The video can be viewed throughout the exhibition. The artist states that in this exhibition, she will also highlight the voice of women through music.

Istanbul-based artist Suzy Hug-Lévy was invited to the "Design Landscape Forum" held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in November last year for her work "Roots/our/ourselves," which she created in the "Other" exhibition as part of Habitat-2.

With her exhibition "Within," which opened on March 11th at the Milli Reasürans Art Gallery in Istanbul, the artist offers viewers a unique environment not often encountered in traditional exhibitions. On International Women's Day, the exhibition shines a bright light on the world of women, showing how a female artist can be creative with common and not-so-common materials.