By Marianna Alepidis.
Tina Stefanou is one of 24 artists who have been announced as part of the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum taking place in 2024.
About an hour away from the city of Melbourne, the award-winning artist lives in her own little “Greek village.” She is surrounded by the serenity of her yiayia’s farm, where she resides with the rest of her family, who have had their own hand in influencing Stefanou’s path.
“As a child, I was nourished. I had aunties and uncles that were making little films with me, my dad sang and played guitar at a Greek tavern, my mum is very expressive, even though she didn’t get the opportunity to realise that in the arts,” she told The Greek Herald.
“The way in which my family sings songs and the natural performative gestures that flow from being together, has really shaped me.
“The migrant interpretation and experience of the Australian landscape mixed with village peasant concepts such as ‘the evil eye’ form these very strange and hybrid magical forms of expression. Orientations that float around the psyche have probably been more pivotal in my development as an artist than any kind of singular human or artistic practice.”