KLPS, 11 Painting

A Byzantine leaf motif found inside the Constantine Lips Monastery Church in Aksaray, Istanbul, served as the inspiration for this surrealistic composition. A ruler that was a cut-out version of the leaf motif used to imply the motif and the motif’s upper side left unpainted but the rest of the surface painted in red. On the marble cornice of the main apse of the north church, this upright leaf is situated next to the wreath and peacock figures. In a tiny, black-and-white image from the Dumbarton Oaks Archive, Melishan Devrim noticed this leaf pattern (Rodley, 1999). In July 2022, she went to Fenari İsa Camii in Aksaray and saw that the relief of the cross enclosed by a wreath of foliage between two peacocks had been changed to a plain circular marble plaque. However, the apse cornice still contains the rest of the composition. She did some investigation and discovered that between 2013 and 2018, when the most recent restoration took place, the wreath with the cross symbol inside of it had been taken out. There isn't a picture of this cornice following repair in the recently published book about this restoration. By painting over the leaf motif in this painting with red paint, she reflects to deliberate destruction of Byzantine heritage in Turkey.

Painting:Acrylic on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:7.1 W x 9.7 H x 0.1 D in

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