Group exhibition 'The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers' explores ritual and memory at CUE Art Foundation

CUE Art Foundation presents 'The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers,' a group exhibition curated by Lila Nazemian featuring works by Levani, Levon Kafafian, and Fatemeh Kazemi. The show's title references a Persian wedding tradition where the bride hesitates to accept marriage, creating a theme of absence and anticipation. Levani's installation 'the altar (2025)' projects a sun-like flame onto a black wall, accompanied by gazelle horns and a pink marble basin with black-ink water, while a recording of Tbilisi street protests adds sonic materiality. Fatemeh Kazemi's 'Saqi (2024–25)' is a pink MDF partition with digital prints, heart-shaped screens displaying poetic verses, and green tassels, exploring unrequited love and memory. Her other installation 'Yalan Dünya (2024–25)' features heart-shaped sugar cubes inscribed with the Turkish phrase meaning 'world, the liar,' commenting on life's impermanence. Levon Kafafian's 'Mirror of Fate (2025)' creates a green-lit shrine with silk panels, fabrics, a mirror, and a book, inspired by the Armenian holiday hampartsoum, and includes a satin rug titled 'Pools of Liquid Time (2025)' with bead and resin pieces. Lara Sarkissian contributes a celestial soundscape to Kafafian's work, enhancing its multi-sensory quality. The exhibition, characterized by moody, layered installations in a dim setting, runs until 10 May, weaving themes of delay, beauty, and the search for meaning through everyday materials and poetic expressions.