Elena Papanikolakis lives and works in Eora/Sydney. Her practice explores the relationship between encounter, transformation and the persistence of trace. Working across painting, collage, text and drawing, she engages with photographs, books, memories, observations, thoughts, and other materials encountered, sought and pursued through everyday life, research, and studio practice. These materials become points of departure for making.
Through processes of accumulation, translation and reconfiguration, source materials shift from their original contexts while retaining aspects of their histories, structures and associations. Traces remain as ghosts, echoes, atmospheres or underlying frameworks, creating a tension between their origins and the possibilities that emerge through making. Moving between abstraction and figuration, recognition and ambiguity, her works hint at possible interpretations that unfold through looking, reading and return.
Papanikolakis was awarded the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship, and has undertaken residencies including Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, and Parramatta Artist Studios. She has exhibited widely, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Hazelhurst Arts Centre, the Australian Centre for Photography, and UNSW Galleries. Her work has been featured in publications including Art Collector, Artist Profile, Art Guide Australia and Neos Kosmos, and her work is represented in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria.
Contact: elena.papanikolakis@gmail.com
