The Punishment

2018 Performance
Wide view of a performer dressed in black standing upright on one foot in a recessed area framed by exposed brick and rough stone walls. Their torso remains vertical while the other leg bends backward at the knee, with the raised foot positioned against the wall behind them. Both arms hang alongside the body and the head is slightly lowered. A tall black curtain borders the space on the left.
Close view of the performer’s lower torso, legs and hanging arm during the one-foot stance. One booted foot is the only foot contacting the stone floor, while the other leg bends backward with its boot positioned against the rough wall. Dark red blood runs in narrow streams down the tattooed forearm to the relaxed, slightly separated fingers and fingertips, with drops and a concentrated patch of blood collecting on the floor below.
Photography: Levent Bassaci

The Punishment wanders through our collective memory in a quest to examine power dynamics and crime, exploring the kinship between weakness and power, punishment and shame, crime and testimony, and navigating the borders between punishment and personal shame, personal punishment and social shame.

In their work titled The Punishment, after making a cut on their arm, Leman S. Darıcıoğlu stands on one foot, letting their blood drain slowly until it stops.

Close overhead view of blood collected on a pale, uneven stone floor. A concentrated dark red area spreads across one rectangular stone, surrounded by individual drops and fine splashes extending onto adjacent stones and the rough edge of the wall.
Photography: Levent Bassaci
View past seated audience members toward a performer standing on one foot against a rough exposed brick-and-stone wall. Their other leg bends backward at the knee, both arms hang beside the body and the head is slightly lowered. The audience occupies the shadowed foreground while the performer stands under brighter light at the far side of the room.
Wide view from within the seated audience toward a performer standing on one foot at the far end of the room. The performer appears small within the frame, with the other leg bent backward and both arms lowered beside the body. Audience members sit closely together across the foreground and left side, facing the performer.
Wide establishing view of a long, narrow interior with exposed brick and rough stone walls, arched openings, a pale stone floor, black curtains and suspended white ceiling panels. Audience members sit on cushions and along both sides of the central passage, facing a performer standing alone on one foot against the wall at the far end, with the other leg bent backward and both arms hanging beside the body.
Photography: Levent Bassaci
Presentations
Earth is Flat?, A Corner In The World Festival, curated by Burcu Yılmaz, Claire Zerhouni and Fatih Gençkal, Bomontiada Alt, Istanbul, TR, 2018
Credits
The Punishment, by Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu, performance, 2 hours, 2018
Acknowledgements: Fırat Sungur
Performance Body Intervention
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