About
Nikolaos Giannakakis is a visual and performing artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores sexuality, intimacy, vulnerability and personal identity. Drawing from lived experience, he works across textiles, tufting, ceramics, installation and performance, often using the body and domestic space as starting points for exploring memory, desire and relationships. His work is rooted in the belief that personal experiences can become meaningful through the process of making, allowing memories and emotions to be revisited from new perspectives.
His early practice developed through self-portraiture, using the body as both subject and site of inquiry. Alongside his visual art education, his training in Meisner acting in New York developed his understanding of emotional truth, presence and embodied experience, influencing his approach to performance and image-making.
During his foundation studies, his work expanded into questions of voyeurism, looking and desire. At Goldsmiths, he developed these interests through textiles, material experimentation and performance, becoming increasingly drawn to the ways objects can carry memory and how the body can hold personal and familial histories. Working with tactile and intimate materials has allowed him to approach experiences that are sometimes difficult to articulate, giving them a physical presence and a space to be understood.
Today, his practice continues to grow from this connection between lived experience, the body and material. He is interested in what happens when private memories and feelings are brought into the physical world, and how making can create a sense of distance, understanding and transformation. His work moves between the personal and the shared, creating spaces where intimacy, vulnerability and desire can be encountered openly.
Education
- BA (Hons) Fine Art, Goldsmiths, London, 2026
- Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, University of the Arts London (Camberwell), 2023
- Acting Certificate, William Esper Studio, New York, 2012
- Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) in Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, 2007
Exhibitions
- A Time to Be Seen (solo), The Salmon Youth Centre, London, 2020, curated by Mine Kaplangi
- Reimagined Desires, BA Fine Art Degree Show, Goldsmiths, London, 2026
- Voyeur’s Delight, Foundation Show, University of the Arts London, 2023
- Ontogenesis, hARTslane Gallery, London, 2023
- Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, 2024
- 130 Views, Oxford House Gallery, London, 2014
Community practice
Since 2016, Nikolaos has worked as an Art Assistant at The Salmon Youth Centre, supporting the artist-in-residence with weekly art sessions and studio activities for young people aged 6 to 16, and developing bespoke commissions and workshops.