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Biography

My name is Georgia Damikouka, I was born in September 1976 in Athens and have grown up here. Since I was a child (little kid), I have loved painting and over the years I’ve attended relevant lessons covering different aspects of religious art.

In my adolescence, I found myself at one of the greatest exhibitions on Byzantine painting with the title “From Handaka up to St.Petersbourg” at the National Gallery. I was so moved by the figures in the icons and the warm colors of eggtempera paint that I decide to start painting in this way.

After High School, I studied for four years at the school of the icon painter Spyros Kardamakis, with his exceptional assistant, Despina Tsiga-Boussia. There I discovered the unique language of symbolism, and the colors and shapes of icons, and at the same time, I learned that it is an art based on ancient painting, which stays alive, developing and, transforming in parallel with social and economical influences, yet always remaining faithful to its religious roots.

Over the last few years, I have been occupied professionally with icon painting, working mostly on portable icons using real or synthetic wood, prepared in the traditional way to produce a clear and long-lasting result.

I follow the style of the Palaiologeias period (13th-14th century) which is called by many the ‘Renaissance’ of byzantine painting. Using 24 carat gold leaf the transcendental character of the subjects is emphasized, which at the same time combines so beautifully with sweet yellow from the egg of the eggtempera.

When I realized the numerous ways of expression through byzantine painting, I took lessons in 2007 on creating illustrated books for children. In the same year, I received an excellence award in the annual competition of the philological society ‘Parnassos’.