Thanos Makris

Thanos Makris is a visual artist, art mediator, and art conservator. He was born in 1979 and raised in Nafplio. Today he is based in Athens. He holds a Master's degree in Fine Arts (MFA with distinction) from the Athens School of Fine Arts (2019), a Bachelor's degree in European Civilization, History, and Cultural Studies (2015), and a Diploma in Conservation of Works of Art and Antiquities (2000).

He has worked as an art conservator for the Greek Ministry of Culture, the German Archaeological School at Athens (for a project at the National Archaeological Museum), and the Austrian Archaeological School in Cairo (Tell El-Dab'a, Nile Delta, Egypt). He has also worked as an art mediator and educator for NEON Organisation and Documenta14 and as an art lecturer in various state institutes for vocational training. He is currently working as an art mediator and educator in collaboration with MOMus – Museum Alex Mylona.

His versatile academic background, including both theoretical and applied-arts skills, has resulted in artistic projects that incorporate an analytic, yet abstractive approach, along with a strong interest in the diverse use of varied materials.

His MFA thesis focused on the history of the blue colour and its connections to melancholy, as well as to the transformation and representation of “found” objects, such as motifs, porcelains, bones (mainly sacrum), and stones. His interpretation of these linkages "composes a new autonomous artifact / palimpsest". Moreover, in his own words, "photography, mainly through the use of mobile camera, works as a medium and as an extension of my hand. The restraints of the mobile function, the limited quality of camera lens, and the noise (grain), are elements of the photographic procedure and outcome. Somehow this process abstractly reflects the two poles of conservation and conversation, without erasing my archaeological background and their archaeological context".