love tr

2016 Performance

Wide view of a performer seated on a white textile spread across the floor, their bare chest exposed beneath an open dark purple hooded garment. Multiple needles are inserted across the chest, with red strings extending outward in several directions. Audience members sit and stand close around the performer, with hands reaching toward or holding the strings. A large circular red artwork composed of many small elements fills the wall behind.

Close view of the seated performer with their head bowed and gaze directed downward. Their bare chest is marked by multiple inserted needles, while red strings cross the torso and extend outward beyond the frame. The performer wears black gloves and an open dark purple hooded garment, with one gloved hand resting low near their lap.

Frontal view of the performer seated low on the white textile with their hood raised and bare chest exposed. Needles inserted across the chest form a large heart-shaped outline, with additional needles arranged as the letters TC inside it. Red strings extend from the chest outward toward people surrounding the performer. Their arms rest low beside the body and their gaze is directed forward.

Side view of the performer seated with their hood raised and head turned toward a nearby audience member. Several red strings extend from the chest toward hands around and beyond the frame. The performer’s black-gloved hands rest low near their body, while seated spectators occupy the space immediately behind and beside them.

Close frontal view of the performer’s bare chest with numerous needles inserted into the skin in a heart-shaped arrangement and additional needles forming the letters TC inside it. Red strings cross the torso at different angles, with small areas of redness visible around some insertion points.

Close view of several audience members’ hands holding red strings that extend diagonally toward the performer. Individual strings are pinched or gathered between fingers and held at different heights and angles, creating multiple taut lines between the surrounding hands and the performer’s chest.

Close side view of the performer with their hood raised and eyes closed, their face angled slightly upward. Red strings cross in front of the exposed chest and extend outward toward the surrounding audience, with several hands holding individual strings entering the frame from different directions.

Photography: Derin Cankaya

love tr is a 3-hour research that explores what we do to each other's wounds. Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu pricks needles attached to red strings to draw a heart on their chest and write the initials of the Turkish Republic [TC in Turkish] inside it. After that, they give the strings to the audience's hands and stay there for 3 hours.

The performance questions, through the concepts of body, wound, identity, and contact, the issue of how belonging to identities in the country where one is born and lives is shaped.