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A new exhibition in Ankara is placing women’s social roles and identities at the center of a visual narrative that moves between symbolism and lived experience.
Painter Nazende Yucel has opened her latest exhibition, "Yediveren Kadinlar" (Ever-Blooming Women), at the Tugrul Velidedeoglu Art Gallery, presenting 28 works that focus on the multiplicity of women’s roles in society.
The exhibition, which runs until May 2, marks the artist’s 12th show and continues a body of work that has previously been displayed in multiple countries.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Yucel explained that her work places the female figure at its core, reflecting what she describes as a unified rather than fragmented experience of womanhood.
She challenges the idea that women being divided between responsibilities such as home, work, and motherhood represents fragmentation. Instead, she frames this as a form of wholeness, where different roles coexist as part of a broader identity.
A notable stylistic choice in the exhibition is the absence of faces in the female figures. According to the artist, this decision is intentional, allowing each figure to represent not a single individual, but women across time.
While the figures themselves remain abstract and universal, Yucel contrasts them with more realistic backgrounds, incorporating tangible objects and environments that ground the works in recognizable settings.
Yucel links the title of the exhibition to the concept of “yediveren,” a type of plant that blooms repeatedly throughout the year, using it as a metaphor for women’s resilience.
“Women are like flowers,” she said, describing them as individuals who can “reintegrate and bloom again” even after being broken or uprooted, shifting a familiar problematic metaphor toward endurance and continuity.
Her framing extends beyond metaphor into social commentary.
She refers to women as mothers, partners, sisters, and daughters, emphasizing the breadth of their roles, pointing to the societal expectations attached to them.
At the same time, she stresses the importance of strength, arguing that women play a decisive role in shaping both individuals and society.
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