Impossible Bouquet
Romy Yedidia
10 August – 6 September 2026

Looiersgracht 60 is pleased to invite Amsterdam-based artist Romy Yedidia as artist in residence for the fourth edition of our Public Research Residency programme, which will take place in the summer period of 2026. The fourth edition in the series, titled ‘Impossible Bouquets’ will build upon an already existing body of work initiated during her time in residence at DOGO in Lichtensteig, Switzerland. Drawing on Susan Griffin's foundational ecofeminist book Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her (1978) a political and poetic account tracing the gradual, systemic conflation of Woman and Nature, the artist will investigate how these associations circulate through the culturally charged symbol of the flower.

For Public Research Residency IV, Romy Yedidia takes as a point of departure a personal, revelatory encounter. Shortly before giving birth, she found herself in a stand-off with a bouquet of flowers that failed to perform the meaning it was intended to carry. Arriving during a period marked by transformation and the quiet pressure to appear composed, this celebratory symbolic gesture pointed to a more complex set of associations. Rootless and decontextualized, the flowers appeared less in their natural form, and more so a curated image of it – cultivated, extracted, cut, and carefully arranged into an image of abundance, prompting Yedidia to enquire into the role of imagery in obscuring the conditions through which such images are produced. Examining the seventeenth-century Dutch floral still life tradition, which stood out for its recurring presence of “impossible bouquets”: arrangements of flowers that could not, at the time, bloom simultaneously. Here, lush floral compositions circulated as markers of artistic skill and capital, while concealing the very systems of desire and control through which they were produced and made meaningful.

Drawing on Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire (2001), Yedidia turns to the ‘broken’ tulip: a tulip variety once prized and cultivated for its unique, streaked petals, it was later discarded once streaks were understood to be caused by a virus—revealing how the cultivation of beauty and of illness can become conditions of one another. Yedidia’s recent installation The Enlightened, examined how the female body is coded through images of nature — as exemplified by floral lace in particular. Often present in bra structures — garments worn closest to the body to support and decorate, shape and contain — floral lace places the body within an idealised visual language of nature: composed, ornamental and removed from context. At Looiersgracht 60, Yedidia will expand her body of work through scanning, collage, textile experimentation and video. Flowers, tulips, bras, lace, archival material and bodily forms will become source material for a new visual vocabulary.

Established in 2022 with the aim of supporting research-based artists and practitioners through resources and time to expand their body of work, the program foregrounds the process as a matter of public interest, allowing the artistic journey to become more fluid, accessible and legible to the public. During her residency, Romy Yedidia will open the space to the public, offering visitors the opportunity to follow the development of 'Impossible Bouquet' and engage with the research while it is still in progress.

Public Events

Event I - Open Studio Weekend

Date: 22 and 23 August 2026

Event II - Finissage and Artist Talk

Date: 5 and 6 September 2026

More info will be announced soon.

Please send an email to info@looiersgracht60.org if you would like to receive updates about the public programme.