I alternate the academic activity with the craft of writing and painting icons. I was born in the Southern part of the planet, in Chile, where I spent my childhood and early youth. There I studied architecture between 1998 and 2002 and developed my passion for writing, drawing and printmaking. Between 2002 and 2007 I lived in Barcelona, where I continued my studies in the field of Classical Philology and Comparative Literature. In 2007 I arrive finally in Athens, Greece, and form my family there.

Even though it had caught my attention long ago, in Greece I discovered the icon painting tradition as a contemporary artistic practice that could comprise the different facets of my personal quest.

So, between 2008 and 2011 I attended the seminars of the research center of contemporary Orthodox iconography “Eikonourgía” where I was initiated into the craft of painting icons by the Greek painter Giorgos Kordis. In parallel, I started a MA degree in the theological school at the University of Athens and graduated with distinction in 2012 with a thesis on the work of the contemporary iconographer Michalis Vasilakis. Until 2015 I lived in Athens, where I was working as an iconographer and writing my PhD dissertation on the art of orthodox iconography in the context of Modern Greek culture.

I am still working as an iconographer in Santiago de Chile and teaching orthodox iconography at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Website: www.xamist.com

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