Öykü Akkoyunlu Davran is a Turkish painter, illustrator, and designer based in Ankara.
She studied Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Anadolu University after completing her education in Graphic Design at Ankara Gaziosmanpaşa Anatolian Vocational High School. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded an Erasmus scholarship and spent a semester at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain.
Her practice moves between fine art and applied visual communication. Alongside her independent artistic production, she worked for twelve years in Istanbul and Ankara within advertising agencies and technology companies, taking on roles such as art director, illustrator, product designer, and copywriter. This dual background informs her approach: concept-driven, narrative-focused, and visually expressive.
She has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, publications, and collaborative projects. As of 2025, she continues her studio practice full-time in Ankara, developing both personal and commissioned work.
Beyond her studio practice, she keeps illustrated travel journals, explores speculative narratives in science fiction and fantasy literature, and develops her own visual stories through drawing and writing.
Artist Statement
The question is: how do we, as human beings, interact with the world around us? Sometimes we feel at peace with it; sometimes we feel bigger than it; and sometimes it feels bigger than us. Depending on our perspective, the world can seem whimsical and absurd. What does it mean to be human? What is the meaning of our existence? The journey continues as we explore and consider possible answers to these questions. Sometimes we resist the difficulties of the journey with all our might; sometimes we cannot overcome them and can only let ourselves float on the surface of the sea of life. And sometimes we manage life and the journey without taking them too seriously. I can say that these themes have been central to my artwork for years.
