Born in Washington state, I spent the first 14 years of my life in the US, travelling to spend my three-month summer in Greece with my dad’s side of the family. I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from America and particularly my summers in Greece. My yiayia, Helle Tzalopoulou-Barnstone, who lived until 100 years old and grew up in Athens, had painted her entire life. When I visited Greece, we would often paint together. In 2012, the day after my fourteenth birthday, my parents, brother and I moved to Sydney, Australia where I was enrolled into Newtown high school of the performing arts. There, I studied dance and drama and in year 10 I discovered my own love for painting. I graduated high school in 2016 and went straight into a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the National Art School where I majored in painting. I’m now six years out of school and painting every day, both from my imagination and from reality.