Interview with: Elsa Papagiannopoulou
November 2025
Elsa Papagiannopoulou is a visual artist based in Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds an integrated master’s in fine and applied arts (Painting) from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2024). Her thesis, It from Bit or Bit from It? (June 2024), consisting of paintings and video art, focuses on the fragmentation and reassembly of screen captures from online conversations and digital classes during the pandemic.
She also holds a master’s degree in public history (2020, Hellenic Open University), with a thesis titled “Adapting Classical/Emblematic Works of Art to Contemporary Digital Culture”, and a bachelor’s degree in European Culture (2018, Hellenic Open University). Her artistic training beyond formal studies includes sculpture with Thanos Karonis and workshops in printmaking, photography, stained glass, and ceramics.
Her practice explores digital mediation and the subjectivity of perception. Working with photography, digital editing, and painting, she investigates how images fragment and recombine through technological and perceptual filters, and the relationship between memory, communication, and the immaterial nature of the digital age. She often uses white lines as a reflection of stained-glass aesthetics. Her work engages with new media theory, particularly Jean Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality and Vilém Flusser’s ideas on how digital images intervene in human perception of the world and the self, questioning the boundaries between truth, perception, and technological mediation.
She draws inspiration from classical and modern figures such as El Greco, Caravaggio, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, as well as contemporary artists working with digital imagery, including Hito Steyerl, Pat Badani, and Tabor Robak, aiming to create a dialogue between tradition and digital culture.
In 2023, she was awarded the WSA Painting Prize by Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK, and since 2022 has exhibited her work in Greece and internationally.
Welcome Elsa, first tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career.
Do you remember the first artwork that stirred something inside you?
The painting The Holy Family with Saint Anne by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, at the Tavera Hospital Museum in Toledo. When I first saw it in a volume of a ten-volume History of Art, I was mesmerized by the face of the Virgin Mary; I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I was still in elementary school, and I had already shown signs of artistic inclination, so there were always a sketchbook and pencils at home. I reproduced it freehand, and I still have the drawing hanging on the wall. It reminds me of that urgent need I felt to draw her, the awe I experienced when I saw the original, many years after. I continued copying other portraits from the same book, and gradually I realized that art would accompany me throughout my life, even if for practical reasons my work didn’t involve art professionally.
Of course, it’s never too late. When I had the opportunity, I enrolled in the School of Fine Arts. Until then, every year I attended a workshop to soothe my soul from everyday life: painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, stained glass, and photography in a darkroom. All these activities maintained my creativity, which might otherwise have vanished under the stress of daily life, leaving me empty.
How do you reconcile the tension between raw, innate creativity and the discipline required to master your craft?
My mind is almost constantly in a state of creativity — not only when it comes to art, but in everyday life demands as well. Ideas run endlessly; I can see something and instantly imagine it as an artwork, not necessarily a painting. Each idea finds the medium that best suits it, yet what challenges me most is the lack of cohesion — the fact that my thoughts often expand in many directions at once. The hardest part is choosing one idea, researching it deeply, and developing a consistent series of works around it.
To truly focus, I need the right conditions, it feels like entering a meditative state. When I do reach that state of deep concentration, I can work for hours without noticing time passing. If I can’t reach it, it’s difficult to start — even to pick up a pencil or a brush. On those days, I usually work on my computer, editing photos or experimenting with compositions. Even when the results disappoint me, I often rediscover details later that become starting points for something new.
To maintain that creative balance, I live with a quiet sense of discipline: I keep a daily structure, follow a routine for meals, rest, and entertainment.
Do you believe a personal connection to the subject matter is essential? How has this connection shaped your work?
Personal connection is essential. Yet many people tend to classify what that connection means —politically engaged art that critiques society, personal trauma, only abstraction or landscapes, or portraiture, or stay loyal to a specific medium or technique. I don’t think any of these paths are wrong; each artist follows an inner drive to create.
For me, if there is no emotional connection to the subject, I simply can’t work, the artwork doesn’t “breathe”; it has no soul, no matter how refined the technique may be. That’s why I struggle to work on commission or to express myself through abstraction. Every subject that moves me functions almost autonomously — and so does the choice of medium. Not every idea can be expressed through painting or printmaking; sometimes it needs sculpture, video, or digital work.
This inner choice of medium isn’t rigid, though. I usually start with an instinct about what fits best, and if it doesn’t unfold naturally, I try a different path. Still, most of the time, the first intuition turns out to be the right one.
How important is it for viewers to understand the intended message of your work?
Does ambiguity add value, or do you seek clarity in your expression?
I often wonder if it’s ever truly possible to understand someone else objectively. What matters most to me is that each viewer finds something that speaks to them personally. If I have the chance to be present, I am genuinely interested in their personal reception — often I notice aspects I hadn’t seen myself beforehand.
I feel satisfied when I see someone lingering in front of my work, taking their time; for me, this indicates a dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. The choice of subject is connected to this process: I think that if a subject resonates with me personally, it will likely reach the viewer as well.
I consciously choose “beautiful” images; I am not interested in creating works that are meant to be “ugly.” In the flood of media images — wars, killings, natural disasters, or the desperate situation caused by climate change, which is our responsibility — I prefer to present works that allow the mind to relax after a stressful day. I want to create images where the eye can linger without fatigue.
Works with clarity always engage a viewer’s eye more easily, but that is not the reason I choose clarity, or the partial clarity I employ: I let the viewer’s mind process what they see, almost like a visual puzzle. When it comes to ambiguity, I prefer minimalism in subject or color so that it does not become tiring.
Do you believe the “mad artist” stereotype still holds, or is creativity more grounded today?
All artists are “mad” in the sense that they can see things that others cannot. However, if we are talking about eccentricity, I think things are much calmer today. After many years of interacting with artists and studying at the School of Fine Arts, I’ve realized that the artists who truly have something to express are usually introverted, quiet, and modest. It’s rare to see someone who “plays” the great artist through self-promotion, eccentric clothing, and grandiose speech full of impressive terms.
There are many artists today, and thanks to social media we can discover truly exceptional creators, whether self-taught or academically trained. The trend of making reels or shorts on social networks is simply a trend of the medium, not the eccentricity I mentioned before. Fortunately, some of these videos exist, because the techniques they use often offer valuable insights — one artist learns from another. Unfortunately, in many art schools, technical knowledge is often limited to what is considered academically acceptable.
Can art be truly therapeutic? Have you experienced its healing power personally, or seen it impact others?
Absolutely, art is therapeutic. First and foremost, it heals me personally. The process of creating artwork, though often physically tiring, is relaxing; it feels like a release. I feel joy when I complete a piece, even if the small imperfections that escaped my notice bother me briefly — but I forget them quickly.
As for others, yes, art works therapeutically in almost the same way. I volunteer at the Ano Poli Library in Thessaloniki, where I teach visual arts to adults. The lessons combine a bit of art history theory, the necessary technical knowledge to develop an artistic eye and expressive skills, and, of course, practical application in their own works.
Most of my 29 students are women, with only one man attending. The lessons are two hours weekly, and the joy I see in their eyes after each session, along with the feelings they share with me, shows how much engaging in art and creation supports their mental well-being. During the summer months, when we take a break, the absence of this process is noticeable even to me; interaction through online platforms cannot replace the personal connection in the studio.
We are at the end of this short interview; would you like to add something about your artistic research?
How did you find the collaboration with our gallery?
My first collaboration with the gallery was in 2022, in the online exhibition New Vision, where I participated. From the very beginning, our collaboration was flawless, clear, and professional — something I truly appreciate.
The idea for the FCG Marketplace came to me just as I was looking for similar platforms to create a page for my work, so I responded immediately, thanks to our previous collaboration.
Regarding my artistic research, I feel that I am gradually completing the theme and technique of my master’s thesis, from which two of the five works now available on the platform originate. This research started in 2022. In the near future, I have already begun exploring new ideas and themes, possibly using new media, and I hope to have the first results within 2026.