The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers

CUE presents The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers, a group exhibition curated by Lila Nazemian with mentorship from Martha Joseph and works by Levon Kafafian, Fatemeh Kazemi, and Levani. Nazemian was selected for this opportunity as part of CUE’s open call. The show opens on Thursday, January 30 and will remain on view until May 10.

The artists in The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers utilize installation, sculpture, assemblage, textile, sound, and performance to reflect upon marriage rituals from the Caucasus. Together, they create new worlds that reimagine these traditions through a speculative and queer lens. The exhibition title references a Persian phrase common in wedding ceremonies, spoken as part of a playful consent ritual at the altar. When the bride demurs at the first or second offer of marriage, guests chime in with various lighthearted reasons for why she cannot respond, before the inevitable “yes” arrives.

Within the exhibition, the eponymous bride becomes a metaphor for the fluid and evolving nature of identity, a character shaped by the dynamic exchange of ideas and the porosity of cultural boundaries. Each artist employs alter egos to explore and reinterpret inherited practices. By embodying ancient deities and iconic literary figures, they question societal norms, reposition archetypal constructs, and expand upon established customs, creating spaces that are inclusive and affirming of queer identities.

Levon Kafafian’s installation Mirror of Fate is inspired by the Armenian midsummer holiday hampartsum—a celebration of love and new beginnings. It is centered around the serpentine spirit Anarad, a central figure in their ongoing world-building project, Azadistan. Referencing the practice of vijagakhagh (fortune telling), Kafafian creates an altar with suspended panels of hand-dyed silk and various handmade objects dedicated to divination and the search for love. The work is accompanied by a soundscape informed by the echoes of Armenian churches and the mountainous landscapes of the Caucasus.

Fatemeh Kazemi’s Yalan Dünya draws inspiration from a ritual—led by married women—of rubbing sugar cubes above the heads of newlyweds. In Saqi, a partition screen is covered in wallpaper that reproduces drawings of a female figure and archival photos of lovers embracing. Kazemi channels her alter ego, the saqi (cupbearer), who serves as a conduit for collective memory. In Dünya Mest Olmuş, wall moulding doubles as a concrete poem by the saqi, who embodies both earthly and spiritual realms and is represented as both male and female, manifesting a fluidity aligned with Kazemi’s explorations of queerness and cultural identity.

Levani delves into ancient Georgian beliefs and Sumerian mythology in the installation the altar, which marries the elemental forces of fire, water, earth, and air. Projected footage of the sun is flanked by v. the hierophant i. + ii., two horned, androgynous totems. Positioned amidst them is a hand-carved stone basin, and sounds of protesters in Tbilisi create perceptible vibrations. Across from the installation is ii. the priestexx [bride], which has dual presence as a warrior. These works echo struggles for justice throughout time and highlight the relationship between present-day and ancestral cultural practices.

The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers transforms the gallery into a sanctuary imbued with the tranquility of sacred gathering sites. Viewers are invited to contemplate their place within the world, and to consider how ancient traditions and contemporary realities intertwine to shape our individual and collective understandings of love, identity, and community.

Public programming: Related events in CUE’s gallery space are forthcoming; follow @cueart or sign up for emails to learn more.

Credits: The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers, curated by Lila Nazemian with mentorship from Martha Joseph. Works by Levon Kafafian, Fatemeh Kazemi, and Levani, including collaborations with sound artist Lara Sarkissian (Levon Kafafian) + sculptor Papuna Dabrundashvili, artist Marika Kochiashvili, and designer Godera (Levani). Graphic design by Unche Studio.

CUE Team: Jinny Khanduja (Executive Director), Jasmine Buckley (Gallery Associate), Keegan Sagnelli (Communications Associate).