Bio
Dimitra Xenaki was born in Athens, Greece, in 1984. She studied Theatre Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens. She also holds a BA Honors Degree in Fine and Applied Arts by the University of Western Macedonia. She works as a visual artist and art teacher, and, in the past she has worked as a drama teacher, director and headmaster of two theatre companies.
Dimitra Xenaki was born in Athens, Greece, in 1984. She studied Theatre Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens. She also holds a BA Honors Degree in Fine and Applied Arts by the University of Western Macedonia. She works as a visual artist and art teacher, and, in the past she has worked as a drama teacher, director and headmaster of two theatre companies.
As a visual artist, she has participated in several group exhibitions in Greece and Europe receiving favorable reviews, collaborating with galleries and she has given three solo exhibitions, “Monologues” (2014, in Athens, Art Gallery of Piraeus), “Prayer” (2016, in Thessaloniki, “Myro Gallery”), “Place and Presence” (2017, in Thessaloniki, “Myro Gallery”). Her artworks are found in private collections in Greece and abroad.
As a visual artist, she has participated in several group exhibitions in Greece and Europe receiving favorable reviews, collaborating with galleries and she has given three solo exhibitions, “Monologues” (2014, in Athens, Art Gallery of Piraeus), “Prayer” (2016, in Thessaloniki, “Myro Gallery”), “Place and Presence” (2017, in Thessaloniki, “Myro Gallery”). Her artworks are found in private collections in Greece and abroad.
In 2013 she succeeded in winning the first prize in the Pan-Hellenic Painting Competition with the portrait of “Phoebe”, when she was still a student, and one year later she was elected to participate in the 7th Greece’s Biennale Of The School of Fine Arts, (held in the “Theocharakis Museum”, in Athens), representing the School of Fine and Applied Arts where she studied, with the same portrait. She has, also, been honored with two honorary titles from the Hellenic Institution of Scholarships for her artworks. In 2014 her painting “Supplication” was elected for the Florence Biennale.
In 2013 she succeeded in winning the first prize in the Pan-Hellenic Painting Competition with the portrait of “Phoebe”, when she was still a student, and one year later she was elected to participate in the 7th Greece’s Biennale Of The School of Fine Arts, (held in the “Theocharakis Museum”, in Athens), representing the School of Fine and Applied Arts where she studied, with the same portrait. She has, also, been honored with two honorary titles from the Hellenic Institution of Scholarships for her artworks. In 2014 her painting “Supplication” was elected for the Florence Biennale.
Although she was occupied, in the past, mainly with portaiture and "cosmogonical subjects", as you may see at her solo shows, Dimitra Xenaki found her artistic maturity in painting Horses and Equestrian portraits. That has to do with the origin of her grandfather who was from Kappadocia which, in ancient Persian, is supposed to mean "the land of beautiful horses". So, as long as she is occupied only with "horses paintings" in different mediums, the last years, she has been considered as an equine artist, also and in 2021 she was nominated as one of the best Equine Artist in the world, based to "Worlwide Female Equestrian Artist Assosiation".
Although she was occupied, in the past, mainly with portaiture and "cosmogonical subjects", as you may see at her solo shows, Dimitra Xenaki found her artistic maturity in painting Horses and Equestrian portraits. That has to do with the origin of her grandfather who was from Kappadocia which, in ancient Persian, is supposed to mean "the land of beautiful horses". So, as long as she is occupied only with "horses paintings" in different mediums, the last years, she has been considered as an equine artist, also and in 2021 she was nominated as one of the best Equine Artist in the world, based to "Worlwide Female Equestrian Artist Assosiation".
As an Art teacher, she was, also apraised in 2019, as two of her students won the gold medal in the 1st Children’s Painting Olympiad, a Pan-Hellenic painting competition for children, held by the Children’s Gallery of Greece. They were ranked in the first ten places of the 40 finalists, among 19.000 participants from Greece, Cyprus and Schools from Hellenic Communities of foreign countries. The medals were awarded to them by the President of the Hellenic Democracy, Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos, during a ceremony organized in the Acropolis’ Museum, on 1st December 2019. It was a very special moment.
As an Art teacher, she was, also apraised in 2019, as two of her students won the gold medal in the 1st Children’s Painting Olympiad, a Pan-Hellenic painting competition for children, held by the Children’s Gallery of Greece. They were ranked in the first ten places of the 40 finalists, among 19.000 participants from Greece, Cyprus and Schools from Hellenic Communities of foreign countries. The medals were awarded to them by the President of the Hellenic Democracy, Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos, during a ceremony organized in the Acropolis’ Museum, on 1st December 2019. It was a very special moment.
As an artist she loves to investigate the poetic dialog between theatre, painting and music and she experiments with different techniques, as she tries to develop different expressive values. She has worked on that independently as well as collaborating with other professional artists, on multiple projects. For her, the theatre scene is a large canvas where she works as a director influenced by Visual Arts. On the other hand, as a visual artist, she organizes her subjects and compositions from a director’s point of view.
As an artist she loves to investigate the poetic dialog between theatre, painting and music and she experiments with different techniques, as she tries to develop different expressive values. She has worked on that independently as well as collaborating with other professional artists, on multiple projects. For her, the theatre scene is a large canvas where she works as a director influenced by Visual Arts. On the other hand, as a visual artist, she organizes her subjects and compositions from a director’s point of view.
Her classes as a drama teacher include acting, improvisation and workshops where the expression of the movements is investigated according to different feelings, using an experiential approach. The main idea is “Catharsis” where emotions are released in a powerful expressive way, inviting people to express themselves through art improvisation.
Her classes as a drama teacher include acting, improvisation and workshops where the expression of the movements is investigated according to different feelings, using an experiential approach. The main idea is “Catharsis” where emotions are released in a powerful expressive way, inviting people to express themselves through art improvisation.
The motives of her artwork probably seek their roots in her family’s origin. Her ancestors, from the maternal side, half of them were famous warriors, whose origins are traced back to the centuries to the pirates of the Mediterranean, and the other half were Greek Aristocrats, coming from Kappadocia, but based in Instanbul and working in the court of the last Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. From the paternal side were Cretans who moved to the island of Naxos. This contrast, being half pirate and half aristocrat, finds its expression through her art that is, simultaneously sharp and fragile, powerful and sensitive, ethereal and dynamic. In one word: Poetical.
The motives of her artwork probably seek their roots in her family’s origin. Her ancestors, from the maternal side, half of them were famous warriors, whose origins are traced back to the centuries to the pirates of the Mediterranean, and the other half were Greek Aristocrats, coming from Kappadocia, but based in Instanbul and working in the court of the last Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. From the paternal side were Cretans who moved to the island of Naxos. This contrast, being half pirate and half aristocrat, finds its expression through her art that is, simultaneously sharp and fragile, powerful and sensitive, ethereal and dynamic. In one word: Poetical.