THE PETROGLYPHS THAT EXIST IN MELİHA YILMAZ'S PAINTINGS

The aim of this research is to reveal how the artist Meliha Yılmaz interprets the Turkish petroglyphs, which are the source of her works, with a contemporary plastic understanding. Qualitative method was used in the research, and literature scan and work review method were used in data collection. As a result of the research, In Meliha Yılmaz's works, it was seen that with a figurative abstractionist approach, it turned into a contemporary plastic fiction consisting of three layers based on geometric plans, and zoomorphic and anthropomorphic symbols and allegorical cultural data of the past periods were interpreted with a contemporary understanding and took their place in today's art that they based on two-dimensional figurative forms based on human-human, human-nature-human-universe relations in the rock paintings belonging to the pre-Turks, which immortalize their belief systems, mystical rituals, life struggles, cultural experiences, ways of perceiving the world and aesthetic understanding with the paintings they made on rocks.

Keywords

Petroglyph, Rock Paintings, Shamanism, Turkish Mythology, Meliha Yılmaz