Biography

Born in 1956 in Paris, Makhi Xenakis has forged an artistic path where painting, sculpture, and writing intertwine in a dialogue with memory, history, and the human condition. From her childhood, drawing was her constant language, a way of understanding the world and herself. Her studies in architecture, under the guidance of visionary Paul Virilio, led her to create theatrical sets and costumes, particularly through her collaboration with avant-garde director Claude Régy. Her artistic trajectory took a decisive turn in 1987 when she moved to New York, dedicating herself exclusively to painting. There, a meeting would prove to be life-changing: her acquaintance with Louise Bourgeois. Their relationship transcended the boundaries of mentorship, evolving into a deep, creative dialogue that culminated in 1998 with the publication of Louise Bourgeois, L’aveugle guidant l’aveugle (The Blind Leading the Blind)—a work that is not only a portrait of Bourgeois but also a reflective exploration of the artistic process itself.

Xenakis’ work is characterized by an ongoing exploration of transformation, memory, and the fragility of existence. In 1999, she presented her first sculpture exhibition, accompanied by the book Parfois seule (Sometimes Alone), establishing her voice in the contemporary art world. Her confrontation with the specter of the past continued in 2001 with Laisser venir les fantômes (Let the Ghosts Come), an exploration of the invisible imprints left by time. A pivotal moment in her career came in 2004 when she was invited to exhibit at the historic Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. In its archives, she discovered documents detailing the confinement and imprisonment of women sentenced for common law offenses, debauchery, and prostitution dating back to the time of Louis XIV. This harrowing discovery gave birth to Les folles d’enfer de la Salpêtrière (The Madwomen of the Hell of Salpêtrière), an installation of 260 sculptures that gave shape to the silent suffering of these women. The accompanying book became a work at the crossroads of art, literature, and historical testimony.

Xenakis’ sculpture is defined by an organic, almost surreal aesthetic. Her works seem to emerge from a primordial matter, evoking sea creatures, chimeric forms, or body parts pulsating with life. Series such as Métamorphoses (Metamorphoses) highlight her fascination with transformation—where bodies dissolve, merge, mutate, moving between the human, the animal, and the mythological. These forms resonate with childhood memories of her dives in Corsica with her father, the renowned composer and architect Iannis Xenakis. His presence was instrumental in her personal and artistic development. In 2015, she published Iannis Xenakis, un père bouleversant (Iannis Xenakis: A Moving Father), in which she unravels her relationship with her father, juxtaposing her artistic journey with his musical and architectural genius. It is not merely a biography but an introspective meditation on how identity is shaped when one grows up in the shadow of a towering figure.

Throughout her career, Xenakis has maintained a constant dialogue between different forms of expression—drawing, sculpture, writing—where each medium allows her to express what cannot be conveyed through another. In Louise, sauvez-moi! (Louise, Save Me!) (2018), she revisits her long-standing relationship with Louise Bourgeois, weaving a narrative that blends memory, art, and the unique experience of being a female artist in a world that often seeks to confine her. Alongside her own creative journey, she has devoted a significant part of her work to preserving and disseminating her father’s legacy. She co-curated the exhibition Iannis Xenakis, draughtsman on the dawn of work in 2012 and participated in the centennial celebrations of his birth at the Cité de la Musique in 2022. This engagement with archives reflects her broader artistic obsession: preservation, memory, and the reinterpretation of the past. Her work has been showcased in major cultural venues such as the Centre Pompidou, the Zadkine Museum, the Orlando Museum of Art, and the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, while her drawings and sculptural installations are part of esteemed public and private collections worldwide.

For Makhi Xenakis, creation is an act of resistance against oblivion, an invocation of the invisible. Whether sculpting imaginary forms, etching the imprint of history in ink, or excavating her own memories, her work remains deeply experiential and poetic. As she herself states: “When I start a drawing or a sculpture, I wait for that magical moment when suddenly something new and alive will appear, something connected to us, to our vitality, our universality, our intimacy. Then, I create the delightful sensation of life—and, from afar, a little death. My work truly feels complete when I find that feeling in someone who gazes at it.” Makhi Xenakis continues to evolve as an artist of profound sensitivity and introspection, moving ceaselessly between past and present, between the shadows of history and the ever-transforming life of art.

Georgia Dimopoulou
Classics Scholar – Editor

Source: The information and photographic material in this text come from the official website of Makhi Xenakis.