white roses, pink glitter

2020 Performance
Wide view of the performance in a large, worn interior with tiled flooring and tall wooden-framed windows opening onto a garden. The performer lies motionless on their side on a large white-covered table supported by angular legs forming inverted triangles. Their entire naked body, including their face, is densely coated in pink glitter, transforming the surface of the skin into a shimmering, reflective pink body. Their knees are drawn toward their torso and their head rests sideways near one hand, with three white roses beside their face. Bright daylight catches the glitter while the triangular structure of the table holds the curled body above the floor.
Close view of the performer lying motionless on their side. Dense pink glitter completely coats their naked body and face, covering the skin in a continuous shimmering pink surface. Their knees are drawn inward; their eyes are open and their expression is quiet and fixed. One hand supports the side of their head while the other rests gently on the stems and leaves of three white roses directly in front of their face. The glitter-covered body, white roses and sustained curled posture form an intimate image of vulnerability and mourning.
Wide architectural view of the performance space. At the centre of the large tiled room, a white-covered table is raised on angular legs forming inverted triangles. On top, the performer’s naked body is completely coated from head to foot in dense pink glitter, turning the body into a small but intensely luminous pink form within the otherwise muted interior. They lie motionless and tightly curled on their side with three white roses beside their head. Tall wooden-framed windows, hanging bare bulbs, dark walls, graffiti and unfinished surfaces surround the exposed glitter-covered body.
Intimate close view of the performer curled on their side. Their face, arms, torso and every visible area of skin are densely encrusted with pink glitter, so that the naked body appears transformed into a sparkling pink surface rather than ordinary skin. Their eyes are closed and their expression is still and withdrawn. One hand loosely holds the stems of three white roses while the other rests curled beside their glitter-covered face. Loose pink glitter spreads across the white fabric beneath them.
Close view of the performer’s face and upper body, completely coated in dense pink glitter that catches the light across the contours of their face, shoulders, arms and hands. Their eyes are closed and their expression is calm and still. One glitter-covered hand rests near their face while the other gently holds three white roses, whose white petals contrast sharply with the intensely pink, reflective surface of the body.
Close view from above and beside the performer’s head. Dense pink glitter completely covers their face, neck, shoulders, arms and hands, transforming the visible body into a continuous shimmering pink surface. They remain curled on their side with eyes closed, one relaxed hand beside their face and the other reaching toward three white roses. Loose glitter extends from the body across the white fabric, blurring the boundary between the glitter-covered skin and the traces surrounding it.
Night-time view of the performer maintaining the same curled position on the white-covered table, whose angular legs form inverted triangles beneath the body. Their entire naked body remains densely coated in pink glitter from head to foot, glowing and reflecting the warm artificial light against the darkness of the windows. Their knees remain drawn tightly toward the torso and their head rests beside three white roses. The change from daylight to darkness makes the duration of the sustained glitter-covered body and its stillness visible.
Photography: 1. Esra Gültekin, 2-7. Derin Cankaya

Zak Kostopoulos (aka Zackie Oh) was a Greek drag queen artist, queer and HIV activist living in Athens. On the afternoon of September 21 in 2018, they had been beaten up by some men. The police officers who came later continued to beat them even though they were lying down unmoving on the ground. Afterwards they died in the ambulance. It has been two years now. Still, the killers are unpunished, and the trial continues.

While daily governmental violence and oppression towards LGBTI+ people are rising through the exploitation of the COVID-19 crisis, in white roses, pink glitter Leman S. Darıcıoğlu remembers Zak Kostopoulos and creates an image of queer resilience and mourning. Drawing from Forensic Architecture's investigation into Zak's killing, Leman took the position Zak was found in when they died, lying on the table for the duration of the performance.

Borrowing glitter from Zak's Instagram post, titled "What if we get lost? I just follow the glitter." Leman uses glitter as a metaphor for queer strength and survival under the contemporary heteropatriarchal regime. While the white roses are generally used to express condolence in funerals in Germany, they also refer to the resistance group "White Rose," under the Third Reich regime, and the pink references the pink triangle of the Nazi's symbol marking [male] homosexuals. By merging the Nazi time references with the contemporaneity, the artist asserts that queers are resilient resistants of today's daily fascism, which still causes countless deaths, violence, and precariousness.

Close detail of a hand and forearm completely coated in dense pink glitter, turning the skin into a sparkling pink surface. The hand loosely and delicately holds the green stems of three white roses. Loose pink glitter spreads densely across the white fabric beneath the flowers, visually extending the glitter-covered body beyond the edge of the frame.
Photography: Derin Cankaya
Three white roses remain alone on the white-covered table after the performer has left. Pink glitter is scattered densely across the fabric in sweeping marks and concentrations, preserving visible traces of where the glitter-covered body had lain.
Photography: Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu
SENKRON, PERFORMISTANBUL
Wide view of the video installation in a dark, narrow interior at Performistanbul. At the far end, a large projection shows the original performance space in daylight, with the glitter-covered performer lying on the white-covered table before tall windows. A broad irregular field of glitter covers the installation floor beneath the projection and sparkles intensely under saturated red light. A staircase curves upward along the dark wall at left, while exposed ceiling ducts and a rectangular skylight frame the industrial architecture.
Dark red-lit view of the video installation at Performistanbul. A large projection at the end of the room shows a close view of the pink-glitter-covered performer lying on their side beside three white roses. Beneath the projected image, an irregular field of glitter spreads across the floor and glows intensely red. The staircase at left, dark concrete walls, exposed ceiling pipes and overhead opening enclose the projection within the narrow architectural space.
Close architectural detail of the Performistanbul installation floor under saturated red light. A dense, irregular field of glitter spreads around the base of a concrete column and across the floor like a flowing or pooled form, sparkling intensely in the red illumination. Smaller concentrations of glitter continue into the darker surrounding space.
Photography: Gülbin Eris
Research Continuation

Following white roses, pink glitter, the research continued with support from the Culture and Europe Department of the Berlin Senat.

Presentations
Memory Conversion, Senkron Video Exhibitions, curated by Performistanbul, Performistanbul, Istanbul, TR, 2021
Glitter and Grief, organized by SoliTsoli, Nawara and Gay Shame, with the curatorial support of Performistanbul, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE, 2020
Credits
white roses, pink glitter, by Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu, performance, 5.5 hours, 2020
With the curatorial support of Performistanbul
Acknowledgment: Deniz Uysal, Feo Marshmallow, Hasan Aksaygın, Yener Bayramoğlu
Performance Precarity Grief Mourning Ghosts Tableau Vivant Research Long-durational Collective Memory Roses Glitter
← RETURN TO SELECTED WORKS