Antonia Papatzanaki, born in Chania on the island of Crete is a renowned Greek artist who lives and works in New York City. She has gained recognition for her light sculptures, delving into the material properties, morphological qualities, and conceptual intricacies of light, while continuously exploring the structure and nature of reality. She was educated at the Athens School of Fine Arts, the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, and she acquired her Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York.
Throughout her career, Papatzanaki has been honored with numerous prestigious awards and has won both Panhellenic and international competitions for public art projects. Her public light installation Agora was showcased at Battery Park during 2000-2001 as part of the Temporary Public Art Program of New York City. Papatzanaki’s outdoor public works are permanently installed throughout Greece, including her sculpture Lighthouse in the square of the Kato Patisia Metro Station in Athens.
Papatzanaki has exhibited widely—notable among her many solo exhibitions are: Thank You for My Breaths, selected bus-stop digital screens, Manhattan, New York, 2021; Microscopies, Consulate General of Greece in New York, 2019; Cellular, Herakleidon Museum, Athens, 2019; Photomeries, Municipal Art Gallery of Chania, 2018; Stratifications, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, 2016; Refractions, Ekfrasi - Υianna Grammatopoulou, Athens, 2013; Robust Matter and Image, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, Rethymnon, 2010; Antonia Papatzanaki, Recent Works, Tsatsis Projects / Artforum, Thessaloniki, 2008; and Visions of Light, Chashama, 112 Gallery, New York, 2007, among others.
She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the United States, including: Nutri Delicious Art, Ηarokopio University, Athens, 2023; Nuit Blanche Heraklion, Natural History Museum of Crete, 2022; Art Dagao 1 – 2019, Chengde, China, 2019-2020; Transplants: Greek Diaspora Artists, John Jay College, New York, 2018; The Muses Project, A Dialogue between Art and Science, The House of Cyprus – Embassy of Cyprus, Athens, 2017; The Right to be Human, Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art –State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, 2017; Whispers, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, Rethymnon, 2016; History-Irony, Vorres Museum, Paiania, Athens, 2015; Harmony, 22nd Seoul International Art Festival, Chosunilbo Museum, South Korea, 2014; New: Illusion or Reality, 4th Biennial, Tashkent, 2007; and Artistic Fragments, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, 2005, among others.
Her artistic contributions have been extensively documented in more than 190 articles, reviews, and critical analyses in solo and group show catalogs, as well as in books, art periodicals, and newspapers. Papatzanaki’s work is held in numerous private collections, as well as esteemed institutions including the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Copelouzos Family Art Museum, the Vorres Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, the American College of Greece, the Heraklion Museum of Visual Arts, and the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania.