About the Artist

Photographer | Visual Artist | Humanitarian

Born in Limassol, Cyprus, Christina is a photographer and visual artist whose creative journey spans more than 35 years. Her early studies in Economics in Nice and Tourism Management in Paris laid the foundation for a life of travel — an essential source of inspiration in her work.

Driven by a deep fascination with human stories and global cultures, Christina uses photography as a medium to pause fleeting moments and evoke narrative imagination.

Her works have been exhibited in prestigious international exhibitions under the patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), including shows in Austria, Greece, Japan, Australia, Brazil, France, and China, among others.

She has also been featured in the Pan-Hellenic Competition of Photography and the Finnish Biennale.

Christina has published five photography books — The Journey (1997), Angels of Light (1999), Close Ups (2002), Mother India (2009, co-authored with her daughter Myrsini), and Paris que j’aime (2022) — with all proceeds generously donated to charitable causes. Her photographic mission has always carried a humanitarian spirit, supporting organizations such as Ayia Skepi, Child Focus Foundation, Theotokos Foundation, and Doctors Without Borders.

Since 2001, Christina has held 25 solo exhibitions in cities such as Limassol, Nicosia, Brussels, Istanbul, Athens, Paris, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (Avignon), and Bologna. Her work is part of private collections around the world.

In 2008, she was awarded the title EFIAP (Excellence FIAP) by the International Federation of Photographic Art, recognizing her outstanding technique and frequent participation in international salons.

In 2013, she founded Sagapo Children’s Foundation (www.sagapo.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational support and safe learning environments for children worldwide.

From 2015 – 2020, Christina has lived and worked in Paris, where she studied painting and drawing at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (ENSBA). In 2019, she participated in the European Cultural Academy in Venice, contributing to a group project during the Venice Biennale alongside a global network of artists, curators, and gallerists.

Her work Femmes Folles was selected in 2021 by the Société des Artistes Français to be exhibited at Art Capital at the Grand Palais in Paris. In 2023, the Municipality of Paris honored her with a three-month outdoor exhibition of her black-and-white photographs from Paris que j’aime, displayed at Place Saint-Médard and Place Georges Moustaki.

Christina is an active member of the Cyprus Photographic Society, Image Sans Frontière (ISF), the Global Photographic Union (GPU), and the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

Statement of the Artist

Immersing myself in different countries and continents, through my photographic journey, I have been fascinated with the varying lights, colors, skin tones and cultures to be discovered. In a world full of composed creativity; my inspiration did not only come from my favorite expressionist painters or photojournalists and photographers such as Steve McCurry and Henri Cartier-Bresson, but also from filmmakers like Alfonso Cuaron.

Beauty is a concept that we are universally drawn to, beyond our mere intrinsic attraction to it. And it is exactly this elegance and tranquillity found in the beauty of our nature that I strive to portray in my figurative paintings. I often see the human body as a landscape with forms, shapes, shades, and empty spaces to be unveiled in the moment. Taking a glance and feeling as if I need to look longer, an attraction to the eye, but also something that addresses memory. Exploring the various mediums of art, I have always been moved from a deep necessity to touch the unknown and create.

Exhibitions

À la Croisée des Arts

Mairie du 5eme
Paris France
April 2025

HER

Lumiere Contemporary Art Gallery
Limassol Cyprus
March 2025

Cityscapes Mindscapes Escapes

Lumiere Contemporary Art Gallery
Limassol Cyprus
March 2024

Paris que j’aime (Open Air Exhibition)

Place Saint Médard & Place George Moustaki
Paris France
November 2023 – February 2024

Paris que j’aime

Lumière Contemporary Art Gallery
Limassol Cyprus
February 2023

Art Capital

Grand Palais
Paris France
February 2020

BAM Collective Exhibition

Mairie du 5eme
Paris France
February 2019

BAM Collective Exhibition

Mairie du 5eme
Paris France
June 2018

Editions

Artist's Notes

The Journey

Publishing House: EN –TYPIS
Place: Nicosia
Date: 1997

A journey is a return to the starting point, to see our home once again, as if we were seeing it for the first time. This is true of a pilgrimage and of other journeys. It is in this simple way and from within my heart that this book was created. A series of pictures, post cards that were never posted. I dedicate it to all those friends who accompanied me and, in particular, to my children, Orestis and Myrsini.

Angels of Light

Publishing House: EN-TYPIS
Place: Nicosia
Date: 1999

Taking photographs of children allows me to become a child again, to be able to see the world through virgin eyes, as if for the first time. This book was made with the wish for the children of the new millennium to become Angels of Light and live in harmony with their souls. I give it as a gift to all of you who will be reading it and to all the children who kept me company during my photographic wanderings.

Close Ups

Publishing House: LIVANIS PUBLISHING ORGANIZATION
Place: Athens
Date: 2002

As all forms of art, photography creates its own reality. It transfixes the intensity of the moment with a unique immediacy, vividness and spontaneity. The journey from darkness to light is a never-ending game with our own selves for self- knowledge and self-esteem. So it is in the darkroom, by writing the light, the world is revealed before our eyes and allows us to see images and emotions to which we may have never before paid attention.

I dedicate this book to the memory of my father Michalakis K. Drakos, who gave me my first camera on my twelfth birthday, and who, in his short life, taught me to love the world, to dream and to create.

Mother India

Publishing House: Athens Voice Books
Place: Athens
Date: 2009

Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Genghis Khan, Christopher Columbus, Jules Verne, Queen Victoria, Vasco de Gamma…all these outstanding people in the human history had one thing in common: India!

Combining my roles as a Mother, Business woman, Artist Photographer and Citizen of the World, I was blessed to travel extensively around the globe and several times accompanied by my two children Orestis and Myrsini.

India, the land of the Maharajas, the yogis, the guru and the thousand spices and colors always attracted me and I was privileged to return a number of times and capture moments of the daily life with my camera.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all Indians who smiled in front of my lens and allowed me to take photos of them during my wonderings from Kerala to the Himalaya. I am thankful also to my beloved daughter Myrsini who accompanied me during my recent journey to the Himalaya and with whom we have created ‘Mother India’ for all to enjoy!

All net proceeds from the sales of our book will be donated to the Doctors Without Borders(MSF).

Paris que j’aime

Publishing House: Lumière Contemporary Art Publications
Place: Limassol
Date: 2022

Since the dawn of time, Paris has charmed and fascinated artists, painters, writers, musicians, photographers, and poets whose ardor has not waned through the centuries. This “universal city,” the city of ideas par excellence, has always been a crossroad, rich in sensory and intellectual experiences, a vast, open-air museum, and a mythical place of exploration and adventure.

“Tear my heart out, you will see Paris there,” threatened Louis Aragon in Le Paysan de Paris. Since the days of my youth, I have marveled at this city in awe. Rubbing shoulders, observing, listening, walking, and breathing it in — glimpses of memory piled up into the span of a lifetime. Time after time, I have fallen head over heels in love with its splendor and essence. As though perpetually glued to my skin, no matter where I am, Paris today is the city of my heart.

The City of Lights; is a ballet of evermoving lights and skies, aligned with its fluctuating energy. Sometimes sweet like a couple’s kiss on a bench, or bright like a snowy morning in the winter; and other times dark like the path under a bridge, or frightening like the gargoyle staring at you from the “Sacré Coeur.”

It is a black-and-white Paris that I unveil here, where light and shadow fuse to expose the city’s contrasting energy and reveal its multilayered complexity in the absence of color. This book is a humble attempt on my part to give back in gratitude for all the inspiration that this city has given me; a homage for allowing me to be a part of its streets and for holding my hand throughout the years as I ventured out to capture it.

“Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it,” Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast.

This book is dedicated to all my Parisian friends, their joie de vivre, and to all eternal lovers of this magical, dreamy city.