surrounded by water

2019 Performance
Side view of the performer dressed in black, with a long piece of black fabric pulled completely over their head and face. Their torso bends slightly backward while both arms extend forward and upward, the elbows bent and the hands open at different heights. A single red rose hangs upside down from a thin transparent thread at the far right against the pale wall.
Rear view of the performer dressed in black with their head and face completely covered by black fabric. Both arms are raised and bent beside the head, with the hands open and fingers spread. Two red roses hang upside down from thin transparent threads at different depths across the bright white room.
Wide view of the performer standing barefoot in the room with a long black fabric covering their head, face and body and pooling on the floor behind them. Two red roses hang upside down in front of tall windows. A rectangular mirror leaning between the windows reflects the performer’s dark covered figure, while clear bowls of water and small dark natural materials are spaced across the floor.
Frontal view of the performer almost entirely enclosed by black fabric, which covers their head and spreads outward from both sides of the upper body like a broad dark sheet. Their bare feet remain visible below. Two upside-down red roses hang on either side of the figure, and clear bowls of water sit on the floor near the edges of the frame.
View across the room toward the performer reflected in the large mirror leaning between the windows. In the reflection, their face is uncovered and one arm extends sideways while holding a transparent water-filled plastic bag by its gathered top. An upside-down red rose hangs directly in front of the reflected face. Bowls and other performance materials are visible low in the room, while dark out-of-focus forms partially frame the foreground.
Close view of a clear glass bowl filled with water on the floor beside the performer’s bare feet and black trouser legs. Small red traces and droplets are visible in the water near the centre of the bowl. The worn orange-brown floor fills the surrounding frame.
Three-quarter view of the performer standing in black clothing with their face uncovered and their gaze lowered toward the floor. Several needles with turquoise ends protrude from the skin of their left forearm, where a narrow line of blood runs toward the wrist. Their arms hang beside the body, while water bowls, transparent plastic bags and seated visitors appear out of focus across the room behind them.
Side view of the performer standing with their head bowed and gaze directed downward. An upside-down red rose suspended from a nearly invisible thread hangs immediately in front of their face and torso. A thin line of blood is visible along their left forearm beneath a tattoo, while another suspended rose, a water bowl and collapsed transparent bags appear farther into the room.
Wide downward view of the floor covered by large irregular pools of water. Several emptied transparent plastic bags lie collapsed in and around the water beside a heap of black fabric. At the upper right, only the performer’s lower body, bare feet and hanging hands are visible beside a clear bowl containing reddish water. Small pieces of natural material remain scattered across the floor.
Photography: Julia Sterre Schmitz

surrounded by water is a ritual between the past and the future, between the scar and the wound, between life and death, between darkness and light.

The performance begins in a space with a square of black fabric spread across the centre of the floor. At each of its four corners is a bowl filled with water, while natural materials collected by the artist from the streets of London are arranged between its sides. Above each bowl, a red rose hangs from the ceiling by transparent nylon thread. Transparent plastic bags filled with water are suspended from the walls by the same material. On one side of the space, a mirror leans against the wall between two windows.

Darıcıoğlu performs a series of actions, some of them repeated: making contact with the black fabric; standing on their toes; inserting needles into their skin; carrying the water-filled bags by their nylon threads while standing on their toes; bleeding into the bowls of water; cutting open the suspended water bags and watching the water spread across the floor; cutting the roses from their threads; and spilling water against the wall.

Full-body frontal view of the barefoot performer dressed in black, with black fabric completely covering their head and face and trailing onto the floor beside their feet. One arm reaches vertically overhead with the palm open and fingers spread, while the other arm bends behind the covered body. The dark fabric falls closely around the torso and legs, leaving only the raised arm, one hand and the bare feet exposed.
Photography: Julia Sterre Schmitz
Close view of the performer’s bare feet and lower legs beside large pools of water spread across the worn floor. The water reflects the tall windows above. Collapsed transparent plastic bags and a heap of black fabric lie partly within the wet area, while a red rose rests farther back near a clear bowl.
Photography: Julia Sterre Schmitz
Presentations
FUTURE RITUAL, curated by Joseph Morgan Schofield, Kunstraum, London, GB, 2019
Credits
surrounded by water, by Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu, performance, 4 hours, 2019
Performance Body Intervention Ritual Long-durational Roses Rope / String
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