Sevina Tzanou (b. 1994 in Athens) is an artist whose work is deeply rooted in her experiences within the burlesque and drag communities, focusing on the dramatic oscillation between the exuberant world of on-stage performance and the underlying melodrama of mundane life.
As an artist and immigrant, Tzanou processes societal expectations and personal narratives by referencing cultural archetypes with a mix of satire and reverence. Burlesque functions as both subject and method, enabling her to examine identity, sexuality, and origin critically. Her work is specifically drawn to how these subcultures destabilise traditional gender norms, positioning identity as a space of resistance and radical self-expression.
In her vibrant oil and acrylic paintings, she explores the construction and representation of the femme and hyper-femme within its historical language, using a dynamic interplay of abstraction and figuration, drawing on the heightened world of burlesque and drag performance. Tzanou plays with colour and chaos; paintings of burlesque and drag performers are showcased in both hedonistic scenes and during mundane activities, bursting with bodies and faces that exude decadence, desire, and disaster. At first glance, her works seem decadent, portraying the glamorous aspects of nightlife, but beneath all the shimmer lies something more vulnerable and tragic.
Through painterly abstractions and expressive figuration, the artist seeks to expand the limits that govern traditional femaleness. Tzanou sees femininity as a form of resistance against societal heteronormativity. Her subjects with exaggerated feminine features, such as long nails, high heels, and intense poses, celebrate femininity as well as reclaim their femme power. By hypervisualising the femme, the artist exposes its constructed nature, while simultaneously reappropriating those very constructed elements, such as the frills and glamour, as a form of empowerment.
Memories of Home
While many of Tzanou’s works feature nightlife scenes celebrating decadence and excess, many of her recent paintings explore her heritage. After her grandfather experienced severe brain damage last summer, the artist reached for his cherished music and films to bridge the gap in communication during his last months.
These influences, alongside Greek folk memorabilia, art, and music, are intricately woven into melodramatic scenes that probe her own identity. Tzanou reflects on her thirteen years of migration and acute feelings of alienation, navigating the clichés and expectations tied to her heritage while processing a profound sense of longing for home. However, the nostalgia is accompanied by humour, a satirical affection and appreciation for the golden era of Greek cinema that mirrors her self-aware play with cultural cliché.
Strikingly, Tzanou’s self-portraits reduce her complex self to a single facet of her identity, functioning much like a laterna, an old street instrument that endlessly repeats the same wound-up songs. Through this mechanical repetition, she deliberately recreates familiar clichés, using clear, recognisable symbols that communicate effectively both within Greece and to an international audience.
Now living between Bonn and Athens, Sevina Tzanou completed her studies in Düsseldorf, learning under acclaimed artists such as Katharina Grosse, Eberhard Havekost, and Yesim Akdeniz. She currently holds a studio residency at Kunstverein Bonn. Tzanou’s work has been featured in many exhibitions around the world, including Flatten the Curve at the Julia Stoschek Foundation (2025) and a joint show, Jimmy DeSana & Sevina Tzanou, at Kendall Koppe, hosted by Amanda Wilkinson in London (2025). Her 2024 exhibitions included Unapologetic WomXn at Palazzo Bembo in Venice and Pink October at the MANA organisation in Athens. Other notable recent shows are the solo exhibition Sevina Tzanou: The Great Disastress at Kendall Koppe (Glasgow, 2023), final fantasy at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (Tallinn, 2023), and Spikes that bite at Margot Samel (New York, 2023). Tzanou’s performance practice is also key, with notable stagings at Kunstmuseum Bonn and Kai Art Center in Tallinn (both in 2023).
Her newest show, No Sorrows, Just Meow-Meows with Rebekka Benzenberg and Zoë Leticia Thomas, opens on November 8 at the Petra Martinez Gallery during the Art Cologne Galerie Weekend, and will be on view till December 20, 2025.
