Cigdem Aydemir: I won't let you out of my sight

Overview

In her latest exhibition, Cigdem Aydemir presents a picture of a veiled woman on a beach. The Sydney artist has taken the name of her Boxcopy show, I won't let you out of my sight, from lyrics from the Baywatch theme, after all. And exploring the implications of the veil — as a culturally constructed site and of the veiled woman cipher as a resistant female — recurs in her pieces.

Indeed, Aydemir's identity as an Australian Muslim woman with Turkish heritage has continued to influence her work, including her award-winning Bombshell, which won the Redlands Art Prize for playing with Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress scene in The Seven Year Itch. This time, as well as nodding to red-clad television lifeguards, she finds inspiration in the approaching 10th anniversary of the Cronulla riots.

Aydemir's exhibition looks at the implications of gender amid rising racial tensions, the war on terror, the role of surveillance and the effect it has on different bodies. It also examines the complicated relationship between feminism and Muslim women. Thanks to I won't let you out of my sight, you won't look at beachside bathers in the same way again.