Maria Tsagkari was born in Athens, Greece where she lives and works. She studied Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art at the Technological Εducational Institute [TEI], graduating in 2005; her graduation dissertation was on the work of Alexis Akrithakis. She worked as an art restorer at the National Gallery of Athens and for private collections. In 2006 she enrolled at Athens School of Fine Arts. In 2007-2008 she attended the Facultad de Βellas Αrtes in Madrid on a state scholarship. She graduated from the ASFA in 2010 and continued at the two-year postgraduate course in Visual Arts in Visual Arts, graduating in 2012. Since 2015, she has been employed as an adjunct professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. The main body of her work consists of installations, sculptures, performances and films that deal with the allure exerted by strange desires, expectations and beliefs in contemporary times. Inspired by cinema, literature and history, the works balance between fiction and reality, truth and lies, the natural and the artificial, the physical and the intangible, revealing the fluid nature of contemporary emotional, political and social beliefs. Her works have been exhibited internationally receiving awards such as the 2014 HYam award for the young Mediterranean artistic scene (Paris). Selected exhibitions: AQUA, Contemporary Artists and Water Issues, SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, Brazil; Château de Penthes, Geneve; STANDART, 1st Triennial of Contemporary Art in Armenia; Coup de Ville, Triennial of Contemporary Architecture, Belgium; 4th Biennale of Contemporary Art, Everywhere but now, Thessaloniki; A fresh, A new generation of Greek Artists, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.