Resisting in Grief

2026 Performance, Video

Frontal installation view in a white gallery. Two long white benches angle toward a large projection screen, forming a triangle with it, while black speakers stand on either side. On screen, a light-skinned trans woman with straight shoulder-length blond hair, dressed in black and layered necklaces, sits on a bright yellow sofa and gestures while speaking. The subtitle reads: “I refuse the notion that a life is unworthy of mourning.”

Wide view down a bright white gallery with exposed ceiling pipes, a suspended projector and street-facing windows. A tall brown stone stands in a shallow metal basin in the open space. At the far end, two diagonal white benches form a triangle with a projection showing a vividly color-altered funeral scene crowded with people and a coffin covered in dark purple fabric. The subtitle reads: “Blood ties are not essential for kinship. We claimed her.”

Wide view down the white gallery with exposed ceiling pipes, a suspended projector and street-facing windows. A brown stone stands upright in a shallow metal basin with pale wet cloths around it. At the far end, two diagonal white benches form a triangle with a vividly color-altered projection of flowers and foliage. The subtitle reads: “I was in a Pride Week meeting when the news came that Biricik had died.”

Frontal installation view with two long white benches angled toward a large projection, forming a triangle with the screen. The blue- and violet-tinted projected image shows a demonstration where two people hold a yellow “JIN JIYAN AZADÎ” banner and others gather around them. “WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM” appears at the top. The subtitle reads: “A woman facing violence should never feel alone.”

Wide view across a large white gallery with a grey concrete floor, exposed ventilation ducts and structural columns. In the foreground, a brown stone stands in a shallow metal basin beside a clear water container and pale cloths. Farther back, two black floor cushions face a low monitor showing a dark-haired person speaking in close-up; subtitles are visible but too small to read.

Close top-down detail of the lower part of a rough brown stone standing in dark water inside a shallow silver metal basin, with a pale beige cloth twisted around the rim.

Resisting in Grief, exhibition, Neun Kelche, Berlin, 2026. Photography: Zeynep Fırat

Whose lives are worthy of being mourned, and whose lives aren't? In their work, multidisciplinary artist Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu interrogates this question by examining how the necro- and biopolitics of Turkey determine the disposability of human life, a sociopolitical theory about the political power deciding how certain people may live or die. Within their artistic practice, Leman examines the vulnerability, resistance, and the effects of marginalization and violence on the lives and death of precarious, particularly queer, communities. The artist delves into the politics of death, mourning, resistance, and the systemic erasure of these marginalized communities through the Kimsesiz cemeteries (Turkish: "those who have no one").

Kimsesiz cemeteries are Turkish burial grounds for the unclaimed dead, thus for unidentified and abandoned corpses. In reality, the state uses these cemeteries to dispose of those it considers undesirable, outcasts, or enemies: queer individuals, victims of femicide, premature babies, refugees, Kurdish resistance fighters, victims of state violence and murder, and sometimes perpetrators of violence. Through a bureaucratic system, vastly different people and circumstances are collapsed into a single official category of the unwanted and unclaimed. People buried in the ground without a headstone, their existence marked only by a number, like a prison that is impossible to break out of. The systemic erasure through the Kimsesiz is not only condemning individuals to oblivion, but also concealing political violence while obstructing social justice and legal transparency. Can collective grief operate as a form of resistance, and similarly, can the act of remembering loss become a gesture of solidarity?

In the multi-channel video From the Lines of Difference, premiered in the project space Neun Kelche, Berlin and now in display at Mouches Volantes, Cologne, Leman approaches the issue of state-sanctioned cemeterial erasure through the lens of resistance: queer, feminist, refugee rights, and Kurdish movements that protest for the reclaiming of the dead and for the right to mourn them with dignity. This work extends their past research in installations such as 2026's Havuz, a video installation whose title refers to the Turkish word for "pool", a term used by gravediggers to describe the cemetery.

From the Lines of Difference interweaves materials from community and personal archives of activists, digital media archives and conducted interviews, recorded as video or audio depending on the interviewee's wish, with organizations and activists who demand the return of bodies of their dead and struggle against the dehumanizing necropolitical system responsible for the desecration of the corpses. The memories of the deceased are evoked through stories told by their friends. The video work provides a haunting glimpse into the previous lives of those buried in the Kimsesiz cemeteries: stories of life and death, love and justice unfold, at times broken by the weight of silence, perhaps one of the most profound forms of remembrance, but also a sign of utter speechlessness. The visual language of the video is what the artist calls their "queer grief" methodology, altering archival footage using vivid colors.

But what are the consequences for a society in which a group of individuals are not only marginalized in life, but also in death?

Seen from above, the performer kneels close to an upright brown stone in a shallow metal basin. Wearing a white jacket over black clothing, they fold their torso toward the stone and place both hands on opposite sides of its rough surface while looking down; their very long dark hair falls onto the floor.

Photography: Zeynep Fırat

Close-up of the performer’s two hands enclosing the rough surface of a large brown stone, with black-painted fingernails visible and the curved silver rim of the metal basin behind it.

Photography: Zeynep Fırat

Very wide symmetrical view of a white gallery wall framed by two columns. At the center, the performer in a white jacket and loose black trousers bends deeply over an upright brown stone in a shallow metal basin, one hand resting on its surface and long dark hair hanging forward.

Seen from above, the performer crouches very low over the metal basin, their body folded tightly toward the stone. One hand reaches into the water beside the brown stone while the other supports them on the wet gallery floor; their long dark hair falls forward.

The performer crouches beside the upright stone with one hand submerged in the metal basin as water spreads across the grey floor and reflects the projection behind. On screen, a color-altered archival crowd holds photographs above their heads; one placard reads “HASAN OCAK.” The subtitle reads: “In 2023, for ten months, we were detained every week.”

Against a nearly bare white background, the performer kneels upright on the wet floor and draws the large brown stone close between both hands, looking toward its surface. The metal basin is tipped upright beside the stone, with a clear water container and pale cloth behind them.

The performer stands beside a brown stone resting at an angle in a metal basin, raising one arm to hold a soaked pale cloth above it and letting water drip downward. A clear water container lies on its side near the wall and a thin sheet of water spreads across the gallery floor.

Wide view of the performer seated low behind the upright stone with both legs extended across the wet floor, their torso leaning into the stone and both arms wrapped around and supporting it. Pale cloths and a water container lie farther away.

Wide performance and installation view in the white gallery. The performer lies fully extended on their back across the wet grey floor, long dark hair spread around their head, while the brown stone stands vertically in its basin at right. At the rear, black cushions face a low monitor. Its subtitle reads: “I hope he does not see what came after, the injustice. That is my only wish now.”

An Act of Accompaniment, live performance, 7 days 6 hours each day, Neun Kelche, Berlin, 2026. Photography: Zeynep Fırat

Darıcıoğlu addresses these weighty ethical and political questions in the durational performance An Act of Accompaniment by reflecting on traditions of collective mourning in Southwest Asia. During the performance, the artist washes a stone, symbolically representing the multitude of lives that were unjustly laid to rest. Drawing on cemetery practices, the washing of the stone becomes simultaneously a process of farewell, mourning, resistance, and care. The process-oriented character of the performance allows space for diverse emotional expressions, such as anger, sorrow or tranquility, inviting the visitors to watch and linger, challenging them to engage with the uneasy feelings that might resurface within them.

The piece was performed by the artist for seven days, six hours each day, following the opening at Neun Kelche.

Text by Sára Székely for the Neun Kelche exhibition

Tight view of a dark, almost black stone with rust-orange patches standing in a shallow silver basin as a narrow stream of water falls onto its top and breaks into droplets. Part of the performer’s black trouser leg and shoe appears at the edge.

Photography: Dirk Rose, courtesy of Mouches Volantes and Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu

Against a nearly white background, the performer’s tattooed forearm extends into the frame as their hand tightly squeezes a crumpled pale cloth, sending drops of water downward.

Photography: Dirk Rose, courtesy of Mouches Volantes and Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu

Mouches Volantes

Full-length view of the performer against a white wall, wearing a sleeveless black top and loose black trousers, with very long dark hair and tattoos visible on both arms. Standing behind the dark stone in its basin, they extend both arms overhead and squeeze a pale wet cloth, sending drops of water toward the stone.

The performer crouches deeply behind a large dark stone leaning inside a shallow metal basin. Wearing a sleeveless black top and black trousers, with very long dark hair and tattooed arms, they fold their torso toward the stone and press both open palms against its wet surface.

Close view from above of the wet dark stone tilted diagonally across a metal basin partly filled with water. Rust-orange and pale patches mark its surface while the performer’s tattooed hands hover on either side, guiding or steadying it; a soaked pale cloth lies on the wet concrete floor.

Wide view of the low white gallery with fluorescent lights and dark-framed windows. The performer in black bends deeply from the waist and uses both hands to tip one side of the metal basin, draining water onto the concrete floor while the heavy dark stone leans against its rim. A blue water container stands nearby and two people are visible outside through the glass doors.

The performance is photographed from outside through the gallery window, with reflections of the street, trees and an orange canopy overlaying the interior. Behind the reflections, the performer in black crouches low beside the dark stone and metal basin, their torso folded toward the floor.

Darkened white projection room with a low panelled ceiling and two small white speakers on the floor. A vividly color-altered projection in pink, orange, turquoise and green shows a wooded burial site with trees around a mound covered in pale fabric and stones; a numbered marker reading “378” stands near the grave.

Wide interior view of Mouches Volantes with rough concrete flooring, white walls, fluorescent ceiling tubes and a large raw-concrete column. A wall-mounted monitor shows a light-skinned person with straight dark hair and bangs, wearing a black high-neck top and speaking to camera. The subtitle reads: “It’s an attempt to create the possibilities of the life we imagine.” Black headphones hang beside the monitor.

Close view of the installation after the performance, with no person present. The wet, almost black stone with rust-orange patches leans diagonally in a shallow dented silver basin on the rough concrete floor, with pooled water and a small pale cloth nearby.

View from the pavement through the gallery’s large dark-framed storefront window. Inside the nearly empty white space, a concrete column divides the rough floor; far inside, the dark stone and metal basin sit beside a translucent blue water container.

Resisting in Grief, Mouches Volantes, Cologne, 2026. Photography: Dirk Rose, courtesy of Mouches Volantes and Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu

Presentations

Resisting in Grief, solo show with performance for 7 days, 6 hours each, Neun Kelche, Berlin, DE, 2026

Resisting in Grief, solo show with performance for one hour, Mouches Volantes, Cologne, DE, 2026

Credits

Resisting in Grief

By Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu

Two-channel video: From the Lines of Difference, 124 min 59 sec

What do the dead want?, 15 min 36 sec

Installation: stone, metal basin, water bottle, textile fabric

Performance: An Act of Accompaniment, Duration adjustable up to 7 days

Production: Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu, Deniz Inal

Video editing, Sound and Technical Supervision: Ilgar Gökhan

Supported by the Gwaetler Foundation and the Berlin Senate Administration for Culture and Social Cohesion

Production Assistant for the Neun Kelche exhibition: Metehan Törer

Acknowledgements for the Neun Kelche show: Bert Günther, Herr Reichelt, Samuel Hertz, Stefanie Schwarzwimmer

Acknowledgements for the Mouches Volantes show: Ihsan Alisan, Kamil Schock, Maria Wildeis, Meryem Erkuş, and the Unser Ebertplatz team. Special thanks to Feinhieb Steinbildhauerei.

Performance Video Necropolitics Grief Mourning Ghosts Resistance Long-durational Archival Intervention Exhaustion Research Opacity Archive Graveyard Kimsesizler Mezarlığı Rock / Stone

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