Trump Art Gallery
Night Wanderers /Gece Gezenler
Night Wanderers is a painting series inspired by creatures from Turkish mythology. Developed through years of research, the project reinterprets mythical beings not simply as monsters, but as symbolic figures that embody fear, morality, balance, and the unknown.
Each painting combines traditional painting techniques with contemporary visual language, transforming ancient folklore into personal narratives that question how myths continue to shape cultural memory today.
Night Wanderers was presented as my first solo exhibition at Trump Art Gallery in Istanbul. Featuring nearly forty paintings, the exhibition explored forgotten beings from Turkish mythology through a contemporary artistic perspective.
The exhibition was accompanied by an interview on TRT 2's Hayat Sanat, where I discussed the research behind the project, the symbolic meanings of these creatures, and my approach to translating mythology into visual storytelling.
Rather than portraying these beings as creatures of horror, I approached them as cultural archetypes. Every monster reflects a human fear, a social warning, or a forgotten belief carried across generations.
By combining mythology, symbolism, and contemporary painting, the series invites viewers to reconsider how legends continue to influence identity, memory, and imagination long after their stories have faded from everyday life.
Kiştey
One of Erlik Han's daughters, Kiştey is described in Turkic mythology as a beautiful yet deceptive spirit whose serpent hair symbolizes temptation and illusion. Rather than illustrating her as a villain, this painting explores the fragile boundary between attraction and danger, questioning how beauty can become a vehicle for manipulation and desire.
Enkebit
Enkebit is a supernatural being believed to suffocate people in their sleep. Inspired by old Turkic beliefs surrounding nightmares and sleep paralysis, the painting transforms this fear into an ambiguous creature that exists between folklore and psychology. It represents the invisible anxieties that visit the human mind in moments of vulnerability.
Yelbegen
Yelbegen is a giant, many-headed creature associated with insatiable hunger and cosmic chaos. Ancient stories describe him swallowing celestial bodies and threatening the balance of the world. In this interpretation, Yelbegen becomes a metaphor for endless consumption—an uncontrollable force that devours not only the physical world but also human ambition and excess.
