SOPHIA KAYAFAS
Sophia Kayafas is a Brooklyn-based figurative painter whose work explores the intersections of the Greek diaspora, queer identity, and spirituality. Her expressive narratives and surrealist landscapes carve out vestiges of truth and beauty amidst a broken world. Her visual language bursts with color and empathic expression exploring themes of identity, memory, and resilience of the human spirit.
Kayafas earned her MFA from the New York Academy of Art, where she was awarded the Academy’s Fellowship and the Beijing Summer Residency. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and exhibited at Flowers Gallery (NYC), Steven Zevitas Gallery (Boston), and the 2024 Spring/Break Art Show (NY).
Beyond the studio, Kayafas is a prominent voice in the arts community. She served as a co-host for the Emmy Award-winning series Flowstate/North Brooklyn Artists and as a host and producer for the Art Grind Podcast. Currently, she serves on the faculty at Pratt Institute, The Art Students League, and maintains a studio practice at the Brooklyn Army Terminal via the Chashama Residency.
Education
2016 Masters of Fine Arts: Painting
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2014 Bachelor of Science: Fine Art and Public Relations
West Liberty University, Wheeling, WV
Group Exhibitions
2025 Field Projects, Echo Locator, Online Exhibition
2024 Spring Break Art Show, NY
2023 Petit Et Intime , Edifice Belgo, Quebec, Canada
Love Never Breaks , Blend, Brooklyn , NY
2022 Roots and Wings, Annunciation Church, NY
2021 Animal Instincts, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA
2020 YOUNGBLOOD, Space Gallery St Barth, NY
Pratt Faculty Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Please Step on the Grass, Anastasyia Tarasenko Studio s, NY
2018 Summer Exhibition 2018 , Flowers Gallery, NY
2017 Fellows Exhibition, Wilkinson Gallery, NY
About Face, South Hamptons Art Center, NY
Single Fare 4, High line Stages, NY
Chubb Miami, FL
2016 Ladies Christian Union Exhibition, NY
Summer Exhibition 2016, Flowers Gallery, NY
Funny Stuff, New York Academy of Art, NY
2015 China Residency Exhibition, New York Academy of Art, NY
New Ovington Village, Bay Ridge Art Space, Brooklyn,
798 District Exhibition, Joy Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
Tribeca Ball, New York Academy of Art
Large Drawings Show, New York Academy of Art, NY
Deck the Walls, New York Academy of Art, NY
Juried Exhibition for Allied Artists of West Virginia, WV
2012 Crosscurrents Exhibition, Stifle Fine Arts, WV
Solo
2016 Certainly Uncertain
Kirby Gallery, Wheeling Jesuit University, WV
2013 People, Places, and Things,
ArtsLink Inc. Gallery, New Martinsville, WVA
Self Portrait, Wheeling Artisan Center, Wheeling WV,
2012 Progression, Shaw Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA
Awards and
Residencies
2019 - Present Chashama Studios Residency Program,
Brooklyn Army Terminal, NY
2018 Residency Dominican Republic, Casa de Campo,
Altos de Chevon, La Romana
2017 - 16 PGTA Award Recipient for Teaching, NYAA
2017 - 16 Third Year Chubb Fellowship Award,
New York Academy of Art
2015 China Residency, Central Academy of Fine Arts,
Beijing, China
2014 Studio Incamminati, Philidelphia, PA
Arts Media / Entertainment
2020 Co-Host of North Brooklyn Artists,
Documentary TV series, Cyprian Films (Emmy Awarded)
2018 -22 Co-host, editor, producer for the Art Grind Podcast
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2024-2025 The Art Students League|Guest Instructor,
Narrative Painting
2018 - current Pratt Institute, NY | Adjunct Faculty,
VR Foundation Drawing
2024- current Hudson County Community College|Adjunct Faculty
Painting 1 & 2
2023 Animating the Mark , Adjunct Faculty Marymount Manhattan College, NY
2022-2023 2-D Design, Adjunct Faculty
Hudson County Community College, NJ
2018- Current Drawing I, Adjunct Faculty
Hudson County Community College, NJ
2021 - Current Art & Cultural Studies, Adjunct Faculty
Summer Undergraduate Residency Program
New York Academy of Art, NY
2021 - current Painting I, Adjunct Faculty
Hudson County Community College, NJ
2020 - 2021 Experiencing Art, Adjunct Faculty
Hudson County Community College, NJ
2018 - 2019 Drawing: Exploration of the Human Form Summer Undergraduate Residency Program
New York Academy of Art, NY