Name/Title
ZusatzblattEntry/Object ID
2025.04.01Description
Born in Calgary, Canada in 1985, Elif Saydam is a Turkish-Canadian artist, writer, and performer whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, textiles, performance, and conceptual installation. Based in Berlin, Saydam’s work interrogates the aesthetics of identity, social mobility, and the politics of ornamentation. Drawing from miniature painting, advertising, and bureaucratic symbolism, Saydam creates richly layered compositions that blend humor, critique, and personal narrative.
"Zusatzblatt" is a poignant conceptual painting that explores themes of migration, erasure, and bureaucratic identity. The piece depicts an empty fruit bowl from a top-down perspective, rendered in oil, acrylic, and stickers on linen. The only remnants are grocery price look-up stickers—each labeled with a country or city of origin—evoking the absence of the fruit and the lingering trace of its foreignness.
Unlike the other works in the series, which follow a narrative of a bowl gradually being emptied, Zusatzblatt stands apart in size and orientation. It serves as a quiet but powerful metaphor for displacement and the administrative categorization of bodies. The title itself, meaning “supplementary sheet” in German, references the bureaucratic documents used in immigration processes, reinforcing the painting’s commentary on borders and belonging.Artwork Details
Medium
Oil, acrylic medium and PLU stickers on linenDimensions
Height
21.6 cmWidth
27.95 cm