Abstract:

Turkish culture, which has been in contact with many different civilizations throughout the historical process, has become one of the important cultures of the world. This rich cultural accumulation also includes folk legends that have survived in Anatolia from past to present. One of these is the legend of Shahmeran, which has an important place in Anatolian folk culture and although it has different interpretations depending on the region, some of its basic features continue unchanged. In this context, Shahmeran is generally depicted as wise, benign, ageless, with a human head and a snake body, and mostly a woman, and it is believed that when she dies, her soul will pass to her daughter. These myths, which are effective in every field of culture, will undoubtedly have an inevitable impact on creativity in the field of art. In this research, the imaginary usage areas of the Shahmeran myth, which exists in Anatolian folk culture, in folk art and the importance of this cultural symbolism, and its reflections on today’s Turkish art, especially in the field of ceramics/tile art, will be discussed. Today’s artists who produce works based on the Shahmeran myth will be identified and researched from various sources and websites, and how this myth is reflected in their works will be examined. Researching the contemporary reflections of Anatolian values and culture is important in order to determine and document that our values have not been forgotten and continue to live in today’s art as we reach the centenary of our republic.

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