• Defne_Tesal_Those_Who_Reside_In_Me_Web-res

    Defne Tesal, Those Who Reside in Me, 2025, jute rope, 235x130x100cm. Installation view from Folia exhibition, Curated by Selen Ansen and Eda Berkmen, Abdülmecid Efendi Mansion. Photo: Hadiye Cangökçe.

  • Defne_Tesal_Distractions_Turning_into_Landscapes_2020_Web-res

    Defne Tesal, Distractions Turning into Landscapes 7, 2020, Ink on lined paper, 17,5 x 22 cm. Photo: Zeynep Fırat.

  • Defne_Tesal_Hesitation_2021_web-res

    Defne Tesal, Hesitation site-specific installation, 2021, cotton, yarn, staples, fan, 300 × 800 × 10000 cm. Courtesy of Defne Tesal and Galerist. Photo: Hadiye Cangökçe.

  • Defne_Tesal_Oneselves_2023_Web-res

    Defne Tesal, Oneselves, 2023, jute rope, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Defne Tesal and Galerist. Photo: Barış Özçetin.

  • Defne_Tesal_The_Coming_Storm_2023_web-res

    Defne Tesal, The Coming Storm 2, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 130 × 200 cm. Private Collection. Photo: Hadiye Cangökçe.

Defne Tesal’s (Türkiye) practice is based on repetitive gestures and material-led processes, working across painting, drawing, woven sculpture, embroidery, and site-specific installation. Through repetitive and layered actions, she responds to the speed and constant forward momentum of contemporary life by seeking to create intimate situations and spaces that invite moments of active withdrawal and stillness.

During her residency at Delfina Foundation, Defne will further expand her woven sculptural practice through experimentation with new materials, unfamiliar techniques, and research into traditional craft practices. Her focus will be on material behavior, resistance, and collaboration, approaching form as something that is not fully constructed but occurs through mutual presence and interaction. Engaging with craft archives and shared making processes, and through exchange with other artists and makers, she aims to open her practice to collective knowledge and forms that grow rather than are built.

In Istanbul, Türkiye, her solo exhibitions include: I Don’t Know Where It Will Fall, Galerist (2026); Talking with Water, Pilevneli Gallery (2023); and Hesitation, Pilevneli Gallery (2021). Defne’s work has also been featured in Des L’Aube, Biennale Internationale du Lin de Pontneuf, Quebec, Canada (2025); Folia, curated by Selen Ansen and Eda Berkmen, Abdülmecid Efendi Mansion (2025), and Distilled From Scattered Blue, curated by Károly Aliotti, Galerist (2024); Rounded by Sleep, curated by Eda Berkmen, Arter (2022); and I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too?, curated by Selen Ansen, Meşher (2022). Her publications include the artist books ‘Hesitation’ (Pilevneli Gallery, 2021) and ‘Distractions Turning into Landscapes’ (2019), as well as the collaborative ‘Dream News’ series with Murat Yıldız (2021).

Defne was born in Türkiye and is now based in Istanbul.

With support from:

SAHA

Artist’s website

Link

Tags

, , ,

Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.