Yeşim Akdeniz's work might strike you first as the most intricate puffer jacket you’ve ever seen, but look deeper and you find an exploration of Orientalism, gender and queer studies and the issue of cultural appropriation. Her new series, Self Portrait as an Orientalist Carpet, consists of hand stitched fabric elements and the connecting elements found on clothing, such as buttons, zippers and buckle straps. She subverts the functional expectations around these to create symmetrical geometric patterns that pose important questions about control and relations.
