Janis Rafa (b.1984, Greece) lives and works between Amsterdam and Athens. Her body of work combines film, site-specific installations and sculpture.
She holds a BA, MA and PhD in Fine Art and Philosophy at the University of Leeds (2002–2012). She was a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam (2013-2014) and an art fellow at ARTWORKS | Niarchos Foundation in Athens (2021). Her first solo took place at Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2018). She participated at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, in Arsenale, curated by Cecilia Alemani (2022). She recently had her first major solo at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, combining a large number of her video installations spanning from 2013-2023, combined with large-scale sculptural installations. A solo exhibition is planned at EMΣT | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens in Dec 2024. Currently she is a fellow at Onassis AiR -Onassis Foundation in Athens. Her first feature film, Kala azar (2020) had its world premiere in the International Film Festival Rotterdam (KNF award) and at New Directors | New Films at MoMA, NY (2020). Her second feature is in development, under the title The Future is An Elder Cow in collaboration with Heretic productions. Her work is held in the collections of Eye Filmmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, Centraal Museum, Dommering and Fondazione In Between Art Film.
Her work has been exhibited in venues, such as: Bucharest Biennial (2021), Centraal Museum solo-exhibition (NL, 2019), Goethe-Institut (GR, 2021), MAXXI (2020), State of Concept Athens (2020), Manifesta 12 (2018), Palazzo Medici Riccardi (2017), Centre d’art Contemporain Chanot (2017), Mardin Biennial (2018), Kunsthalle Munster (2017), EYE Filmmuseum (2016/ 2021), Palazzo Strozzi (2015). Rafa’s work is part of several institutional and private collections amongst them Stedelijk Museum, Centraal Museum, Museum Voorlinden and Fondazione In Between Art Film.