Chrysanne Stathacos
Chrysanne Stathacos is a multidisciplinary artist of Greek, American and Canadian origin. Her work encompasses printmaking, textile, painting, installation and conceptual art. Stathacos is heavily involved with and influenced by feminism, Greek mythology, Eastern spirituality and Tibetan Buddhism, all of which inform her current artistic practice. Amidst the AIDS crisis in the 1990s, Stathacos’ work became deeply engaged with body politics, and her commentary on issues of sexuality and gender became more pronounced. Through her work, Stathacos created images and experiences that connected issues of body, environment and future. Her works from that time represent this pivotal moment in the artist’s practice.
Stathacos has exhibited in museums, galleries and venues internationally. She has participated in countless exhibitions in various media, but she is most known for her unique combination of performance and installation. She has received funding for her projects and her artwork from foundations and government agencies such as the Art Matters Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation, among others.
Stathacos has served on the boards of Art Metropole, Toronto; The Gap (Grange Arts and Performance), Toronto; the Lower East Side Printshop, New York; and Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives, New York. She established Expanded Art Ideas in 2001, an innovative art education programme for Artists’ Space, NYC, focusing on schools in the Lower East Side and Inwood area. Stathacos is a founding director of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives, supporting Tibetan Buddhist women practitioners in the Himalayas. An integral part of her creative work as an artist over the years has been to facilitate and advance artistic positions, art education residencies, women’s and environmental issues, public art projects and conversations promoting mutual understanding of the interstices between diverse groups.
Stathacos is known for her support of women artists in her collaborative exhibitions, blogs and social practice. Two major collaborative works from the early 1990s still resonate today: “The Abortion Project” with Kathe Burkhart, and “The Banquet” with Hunter Reynolds. The Abortion Project commemorated women’s reproductive rights and was presented at Artists Space, Simon Watson Gallery, Real Art Ways, Hallwalls and New Langton Arts between 1990 and 1993. The Banquet was first performed at Thread Waxing Space in 1992, inspired by Surrealist Meret Oppenheim’s Spring Feast. On 1 May 2017, Participant Inc. celebrated The Banquet’s 25th Anniversary as part of Ephemera Office Enterprise.
In February 2012, the artist Susan Silas and Stathacos launched the art-blog MOMMY. The idea was to create a platform, in an interview format, that functions as an appreciation of women artists who have been working for at least 20 years.
