Zoi Gaitanidou (b. 1981, Athens, Greece) has developed a distinctive visual language that merges embroidery, drawing, collage, and painting into richly layered surfaces. Her practice navigates the boundaries between figuration and abstraction, crafting symbolic universes where human and non-human forms coexist within charged, allegorical landscapes. Central to her work is an exploration of fear, vulnerability, and collective instinct—conditions that resonate with broader social realities and with the precarious balance between risk and safety that shapes contemporary life.
In recent years, Gaitanidou has refined her approach to materiality, using embroidery in a more restrained way, allowing the density of thread to punctuate and amplify moments of tension within expanses of pastel, acrylic, and paper. This interplay between saturation and void generates a heightened psychological rhythm, evoking both the intensity of crisis and the pauses of reflection. Her recurring motif of “universal tribes” functions as a mythology of belonging, a lens through which she investigates how communities are bound together by shared fears, desires, and instincts.
Her exhibitions underscore this dual attention to the intimate and the collective. Solo projects such as Risk Aversion at Scaramouche Gallery, New York, confront the existential anxieties of contemporary society, while earlier presentations like VOID at David Castillo Gallery continue to shape her reputation for immersive, symbolically charged installations. Group exhibitions—including The Equilibrists at the Benaki Museum (in collaboration with the New Museum and DESTE) and the 2nd Athens Biennial Heaven—attest to her international presence and critical recognition.