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I am an interdisciplinary artist, designer, curator and researcher working across socially engaged art/design, documentary photography and filmmaking, and curatorial practice.

My work combines experimental methods to create participatory experiences that engage audiences, alongside community storytelling and poetic documentary. Rooted in site-specific and collaborative approaches, often in peripheral settings, my practice is guided by socio-ecological curiosities and a feminist lens of care. Through  multi-method co-creative processes, I work with communities to unearth hidden knowledge and reimagine local culture and facets of heritage in contemporary contexts. I am the founder and artistic director of Xarkis NGO and Xarkis Festival, which have delivered over 30 projects fostering community participation and cultural innovation in Cyprus and beyond. I also serve as Vice-President of the Visual Artists and Art Theorists Association (phytorio), which is the largest association for self employed artists and theorists in Cyprus, and part of a team representing Cypriot design and visual art NGOs, where I advocate for cultural workers’ rights on a governmental and parliamentary level. I have directed three documentary films — two shorts and one medium-length work (2025) — and since 2016 have written and co-directed several trailers. Recently, I presented my first solo exhibition, sympraxis, at SIC contemporary culture, featuring audio-visual works including photography and films, alongside a collaborative platform engaging craft communities.

My documentary films are currently touring international festivals, and the medium-length work has been acquired by COSMOTE History Channel for broadcasting across Greece and Cyprus. I hold an MA in Communication Design (Distinction, Central Saint Martins, UAL, 2014) and am currently pursuing a PhD at Central Saint Martins with an AHRC Techne Scholarship. My research focuses on collaborative and ethnographic methods, filmmaking, photography, and co-design practices with endangered craft heritage communities. Since 2016, I have taught in higher education, including at Central Saint Martins, London College of Communication, Westminster University, and European University Cyprus. My teaching covers collaborative practice, intersectional environmentalism, co-design, social design, and interdisciplinary research methods. I currently lecture on collaborative environmentalism and interdisciplinary practice at Central Saint Martins, bringing together creative practice and pedagogy to foster educational transformation.

Christina Skarpari

christinaskarpari2@gmail.com
0035797676011

Founder of Xarkis NGO
22 Petraki Giallourou
Nicosia, Strovolos — 2040 Cyprus

Work

30’ minutes (2025)

A film by Christina Skarpari

Produced by Xarkis NGO | Audio-visual editing: Phivos Philitas, Christina Skarpari | Editing assistance: Andreas Kleanthous | With the participation of: Pericles Gavriel and Chrystoulla Gavriel

In the village of Livadia, master artisans Chrystoulla and Pericles Gavriel sustain the endangered cane-weaving crafts of psatharka and kalamoti. The film moves at the pace of the craft—slow and deliberate—interweaving facets of the home, trial and error, laughter, and quiet pauses. Intimate breaks give way to candid reflections on the fragile future of their practice, highlighting both its poetry and the cascading, structural neglect that threatens such traditions. In revealing the artisans’ humour, ingenuity, and ecological sensitivity, the film becomes more than a record of cultural heritage: it is an ode to friendship, a meditation on the politics of slowness, patience, and a call for more porous, inclusive, living cultural spaces.