Every one of these women is wearing her own mind on the outside.
A shoal of goldfish streams out of a sleeping woman's hair. Dragonflies settle over a face until they have almost covered it. Branches grow from a scalp and a kingfisher arrives, entirely unbothered, as though it had always been a tree. What sits above the shoulders is never just a head — it is a habitat, a weather system, an argument the sitter is having with herself.
Half of them meet your eye and half have closed theirs. That division matters to me. The ones looking back are holding their ground; the ones with their eyes shut have gone somewhere you are not invited. Both are a kind of refusal.
I build these in layers and in more than one medium at once — acrylic, oil, gouache, gold, and in one case lace worked directly into the canvas so the surface itself is textile. The layering is the point. Something is always coming through from underneath.
Nine surreal faces
Defne Akyay Altug is a Turkish-born artist based in Auckland, New Zealand, presenting her work publicly for the first time in this exhibition.
After many years devoted to flamenco dancing, painting became another great passion in her life. Her artistic journey began in 2022 and quickly grew into a daily practice. Since picking up a paintbrush, she has painted every day, working primarily in acrylic while also exploring oil and gouache.
Defne's recent work centres on surreal, imaginative portraits that explore identity, emotion, and the hidden layers of the human experience. Rather than painting from observation, she creates faces born from imagination — expressive, symbolic, and dreamlike — inviting viewers to look beyond appearances and discover their own interpretations within them.
Influenced by her Turkish heritage and shaped by living in Turkey, Paris, and now New Zealand, Defne's paintings reflect a journey across cultures and experiences. Through expressive colour, symbolism, and unexpected forms, she creates portraits that celebrate individuality while revealing the emotions and connections that unite us all.
For purchase enquiries, commissions, or to see a painting in person in Auckland — please get in touch.