melancholia Drawing

Born in 1985 in Balıkesir, Saliha Yılmaz graduated from Yeditepe University Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Plastic Arts. In 2016, she completed her M.F.A. at the same university’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Plastic Arts. In the same year Yılmaz participated to the artist residency program “Once Upon a Time in Dartmoor” organized by Gerrit Rietveld Academy in the Netherlands and taking place at the European Exchange Academy in the UK. In 2015 she was invited by Red Horse, a fashion brand from Beijing, to take part in an art event. In 2014 she participated to the 6th Portakal Çiçeği Worksop taking place in Sapanca with the International Plastic Arts Colony. Yılmaz describes her artistic practice in the following words: “In my works, I use various methods like painting, drawing, ceramic and light art in combination. I adopt a critical approach particularly towards the issues of identity within the urban and the social contexts. I focus on hybrid individuals by using forms of flowers, plants, animals or buildings to represent them. Although in my oeuvre I also use clay modeling, oil painting, drawing and lighting effects, I mostly prefer using painting and clay in conjunction with form, color and structure. My paintings, drawings and sculptures have multi-layered functions independent of each other. I combine these common qualities into a wholeness that embodies them all. In addition to the architectural and sociopolitical issues we have been exposed to in the postmodern era, I examine the impact of urban transformation and the metropolitan life within the framework of nature and humanity. My recent works include ‘Become A Woman’, which is a textual investigation on being a member of a household as a woman in Turkish social and political environment. Here my point of departure is the situation of women becoming aware of their unconscious thoughts while trying to change their position in society.