EPIKENTRO+, Patras
Tuesday, 22 December 2026
GOLFO – Concept Album
Wednesday, 16 December 2026
Photographic Intervention
Aigio Cultural Centre “Alekos Megaris”
Sunday, 22 November 2026
A Tribute to Iro Chanta (1911–1995)
Mesorrougi, Achaia
Saturday, 19 September 2026
3rd Tribute to Spyridon Peresiadis
Villa Kolla, Patras
Saturday, 10 January 2026
Research in Theatre Practice: From Writing to the Stage
Actress Betty Arvaniti.
Photo: Anna Maria Hadjistefanou
BETTY ARVANITI – The Moment Before the Stage
Photography: Anna Maria Hadjistefanou
Photographer Anna Maria Hadjistefanou contributes a visual intervention to the 3rd Golfo Festival 2026 with a photographic portrait of the distinguished actress Betty Arvaniti, captured during a particular moment of her preparation before stepping onto the stage.
The camera captures an almost ritualistic process of transformation: that liminal moment when the actor gradually withdraws from their everyday identity to inhabit another persona. The makeup, the gesture, the concentration, the silence before the first spoken word all become small acts of transition from reality to theatricality. An inner preparation, usually hidden from the audience, in which the body and face become the instruments of an imminent metamorphosis.
The photograph will be exhibited in the courtyard of the EPIKENTRO+ Theatre as a discreet, symbolic tribute to Betty Arvaniti, one of the most significant figures in contemporary Greek theatre.
An image dedicated not only to a remarkable actress, but also to the unseen moment that precedes the theatrical act, when the individual prepares to become a character and silence is about to turn into speech.
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| ANNA MARIA HADJISTEFANOU - Photographer Anna Maria Hadjistefanou was born in Cairo, Egypt. She holds a BA (Honours) in Communication Design, specialising in Photography, as well as an MA in Education and a Diploma in Teaching English. She works professionally as a photographer, English language teacher and translator. She lives and works in Athens. She has participated in numerous group photography and visual arts exhibitions and festivals in Athens, Thessaloniki, other parts of Greece, and Italy. Over the past eleven years, she has held six solo exhibitions. Her solo exhibition Tainias Periigisis (A Journey Through Film): Yannis Economides’ Stratos (The Little Fish), held at the Greek Film Archive in November 2014, was accompanied by a catalogue published by Gavriilidis Editions. Her two most recent solo exhibitions, Beaches and Project Fleva – Parallel Photographic Journeys, were held respectively in October 2023 at iFocus Gallery and in November 2025 at MatchPoint Arts N’ More. In November 2025, her book Project Fleva – Parallel Photographic Journeys was published by Berlin Editions. In 2014, she founded the art collective SynARTisi 5, which presented exhibitions at venues including the Serifos Festival in 2015 and Art Athina in 2016. She also participates in group exhibitions and artistic activities through the art platforms Horizons of Events (Orizontas Gegonoton) and Dipola, and is a member of the art collective Artunitas. |
