
What does it take to construct—and inhabit—new worlds? How could we, as mortal yet defiant human beings, break free from systemic ways of seeing and performing ourselves?
City of Athens, Culture, Sports and Youth Organization (OPANDA) presents at the City of Athens Art Gallery, from July 3 to September 7, the new solo show by Stella Kapezanou Bad Girls, Big Dragons. Featuring selected archival and new works, the show constructs a dreamlike universe where feminine entities coexist with mythical creatures, inviting the viewer on a journey guided by instinct, seduction and pleasure—consciously and unapologetically.
At the core of the City of Athens Art Gallery stands the large scale, homonymous 6 by 2 meter painting, created especially for the entrance of the show and serving as the narrative starting point of the exhibition. Its central figure is the dragon— a symbol of what’s untamed, othered, protective yet concurrently intimidating. Etymologically drawn from the ancient Greek word dérkomai, meaning to see clearly, the dragon becomes a parable, a vehicle through which we are invited to view anything “non-normative” or forbidden through new perspective.

Bad-Girls-Big-Dragons-2025-detail @Christos Simatos
Through the work Bad Girls, Big Dragons (2025), as well as through a series of alternative depictions of mythical, unruly or domesticated beings, as curator Ioanna Gerakidi notes: “Kapezanou’s works legitimise the coexistence of species emancipated, self-assured, empowered, which are now, finally, the ones ruling the world.”
In Stella Kapezanou’s works, feminine entities surrender to or dominate mythic creatures—dragons, ravens, snakes. Women become tigers, men turn into mermaids, and spirits ignite as flames that illuminate and guard a world of irrational beauty. Fire, an element that recurs throughout the exhibition, acts as a force of protection and reclamation—over bodies, psyches, lands. “Through Kapezanou’s practice,” Gerakidi writes, “the once powerful surrenders to the mundane, the once masculine requests its right to femininity.”
Bad Girls, Big Dragons is a tribute to the fluid, multiple expressions of the self: a personal and collective experience of embodying diverse identities and an act of resistance against everything that lies beyond the “norm”.
The exhibition is accompanied by a printed publication featuring a curatorial essay and photographic documentation of the works.
Curated by: Ioanna Gerakidi
Exhibition Design: Katerina Apostolou
GUIDED TOUR PROGRAM
Wednesday, July 9 – 12:00 | Curatorial tour, in the presence of the artist
Tuesday, July 15 – 11:00 | Guided tour for individuals with hearing disabilities
Wednesday, July 16 – 12:15 | Guided tour for participants of the ATHENIAN WALKS by ACTION PLUS
Thursday, July 17 – 12:15 | Guided tour for participants of the ATHENIAN WALKS by ACTION PLUS
Thursday, July 17 – 18:00 | Curatorial tour, in the presence of the artist
INFO
Exhibition Duration: July 3 – September 7, 2025
Opening: Thursday, July 3 | 19:00-22:00
Exhibition Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11:00-19:00 | Sunday 10:00-16:00 | Monday: Closed
Entrance Free
City of Athens Art Gallery (Building A):
Germanikou & Mylerou, 10436, Metaxourgio, Athens, GR
Info: +30 210 5202420 | www.opanda.gr

Stella Kapezanou
Stella Kapezanou is a visual artist based in Athens. Her work explores vulnerability, symbolism, and the aesthetics of power through large-scale paintings and ceramic sculptures. She worked in fashion and media for 12 years. She studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts and Chelsea College of Arts in London, receiving dual scholarships. In 2024, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to attend the thematic residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute (USA), and was commissioned to design the new visual identity for the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. She has received multiple awards for her practice, and her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Europe, the UK, and the United States.
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