Fotini Michailidi was born in 1993 in Paphos. She studied BA in Fine Arts at Middlesex University in London, where she focused on creating installations that explored concepts and stereotypical views of the appropriate “ideal life” and how they affect us in our decision-making and therefore in our everyday lives. They open discussions focused on the ideas of social norms and their role in society. Recently, she graduated from the University of Nicosia where she did her postgraduate studies (MA) in Digital Art and Design. Since 2015, she has participated in various group exhibitions and festivals throughout Cyprus and abroad. Her work is currently exhibited in Psifida Art Gallery in Paphos.
In her current work as a contemporary artist, she has placed particular emphasis on questioning the concept of beauty and ugliness. She is exploring the definition of beauty, by challenging what makes something beautiful. Beauty in terms of art refers to a balanced interaction between line, color, texture, shape, motion, and size that is pleasing to the senses. However, today beauty is not a necessary condition for works of art. Her last project is based on the theory of ‘when there is a form; there is its deformation’. In her personal view, beauty is subjective and it is a matter of each individual's aesthetics and perception. She believes that beauty is related to what is pleasing to our senses influenced by our cultural identity, and our unconscious stereotypical picture of beauty.
As an artist, she is constantly searching for new ways and techniques to demonstrate the chaos, the anarchy, and the dystopian elements which intertwine with our cognitive-emotional world. The face is a facade of a self, which is able to hide or express our personality and our emotions, but what happens when we reduce the realistic human face characteristics? Through this practice, she uses her own way to create colorful cubistic portraits with acrylic paints to manifest the emotional deformation of beauty. With the most important parts missing, she utilizes their realistic absence to emphasize their significance.
Education
2012-2015
BA FINE ART (HONS) CLASS 2.1 - MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY
2019-2021
MA DIGITAL ART AND DESIGN - UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA
Certificates
2011
Level 3 BTEC Advanced Diploma in Art and Design
2015
Art Therapy Summer School - The University of Roehampton, London, UK
"My life has been shaped by a unique combination of family background and personal experiences. I come from a diverse heritage, being the grandchild of a Turkish Cypriot woman and a Greek Cypriot man, whose marriage marked an important milestone in the history of Cyprus, as the first marriage in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, after having their 6 children. Also, as a child I grew up in a home where my mother, a divorced woman with a child, faced societal criticism in a time when divorce was not widely accepted, I witnessed firsthand the struggles and challenges of defying social norms. Moreover, my father's disability due to myopathy further highlighted the barriers that society often places on people with disabilities. These formative experiences, coupled with my own journey of overcoming physical abuse and grappling with depression, have deeply influenced my artistic expression. Through my works, I explore the constraints imposed by societal expectations and advocate for the empowerment and liberation of individuals to forge their own unique identities and live a life true to themselves."
Fotini Michailidi