I aim to create a visual language where the organic and the artificial, the tangible and the impalpable coexist, giving form to surreal elements of fragmented memories.
— Sofia Nifora
Sofia Nifora (b.1995 Patras, Greece) studied BA Fine Art at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, (2013-19); BA Fine Art at École Supérieure d’Art de Clermont Métropole (2016-17); and an MA Fine Art Painting at Royal College of Art (2020-22). Recent prizes include: NEON Organisation Scholarship Award (2021 and 2020), Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (2021).
Her works revolve around fantasy and out of joint reality. The wild and bucolic landscapes of her upbringing in rural Greece act as a starting point for her paintings and as a fertile ground for reminiscence: personal experiences of grief, loss and migration are here translated into symbols of things that once were and no longer are - allegories of the manipulation reality is subject to in memories. Her paintings work as metaphors for memory, but function as autonomous beings, independent from the original subject.
Born in 1995 in Patras, Greece
Lives and works in the UK
Education
| 2020 |
MA Royal College of Art, Painting, London |
| 2018 |
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Arts, department |
| 2017 | Superior School of Art of Clermont Metropole |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2024 |
Baert Galley, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming) |
| 2023 |
ATM Galley, New York, NY (forthcoming) |
| 2019 |
ATELIER PATRAS, ‘Pause’, Cultural pop-up space by Berlin School of Architecture, |
Group Exhibitions
| 2023 |
Cromwell place, ‘Taymour Granhe, on abstraction’, London, UK (forthcoming) |
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Galerie Marguo, ‘A New Sensation’, Paris, France |
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| 2022 |
One Room Gallery, ‘Both sides now’, curated by Samuelle Visentin, London, UK |
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Gulbenkian Gallery, ‘a line made by walking’, curated by Antoine Schafroth, London, UK |
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RUPTURE XIBIT, ‘phantasmagoria’, curated by Olivia Chen, London, UK |
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Drawing Projects, ‘Jerwood / Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize’, London, UK |
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Trinity Buoy Wharf, ‘Jerwood / Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize’, London, UK |
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Royal College of Art, ‘WIP, work in progress show’, London, UK |
Awards & Grants
| 2021 |
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, shortlisted, London, UK |
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NEON Organisation Scholarship award, Greece |
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The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada |
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| 2020 |
NEON Organisation Scholarship award, Greece |
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Sofia NiforaIntertwined, 2023Work on paper120 x 150 cm (47 1/4 x 59 in) -
Sofia NiforaThe place that still holds us, 2023Oil on canvas160 x 200 cm (63 x 78 3/4 in)
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Sofia Niforaan ode to summer nights, 2022Oil on canvasDiptych: 180 x 320 cm (70 7/8 x 126 in)
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Sofia Niforawe’ll be entangled, forever, 2021Oil on linen160 x 140 cm (63 x 55 1/8 in)
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Sofia Niforawhere land meets the sea, 2021Oil on canvas120 x 120 cm (47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in)
