Eleκtra Stamboulis

Eleκtra Stamboulis is an independent curator, comics writer, and school principal based in Ravenna, Italy. She was born in Bologna to Greek parents who were in exile during the Regime of the Colonels in Greece.

She holds a degree cum laude in Classical Philology from the University of Rome – La Sapienza. She began her work as an art curator in 1997, following a two-year specialized course in Conservation and Promotion of Cultural Heritage. Her curatorial focus has been on young artists, with special attention to those at risk or committed to human rights.

In 2002, she introduced Joe Sacco’s work to Italy with an exhibition that toured Europe, including stops in Athens, Lucerne, and Ljubljana. She also curated one of the first and very few exhibitions dedicated to Marjane Satrapi in 2003.

From 2005 to 2015, she was the artistic director of Komikazen Festival, an avant-garde event dedicated to reality-based comics, which hosted authors from around the world with a special emphasis on underrepresented regions and stories.

She was part of the collective behind the magazine G.I.U.D.A. – Geographical Institute of Unconventional Drawing Art.

Stamboulis has curated numerous exhibitions featuring international authors both in Italy and abroad. Her articles have appeared in academic and non-academic journals and reviews.

As a writer, she has published Small Jerusalem with Angelo Mennillo—translated into Greek, Turkish, and French—as well as Cena con Gramsci, Arrivederci Berlinguer, Pertini tra le nuvole, and Diario segreto di Pasolini with Gianluca Costantini.
She curated Zehra Doğan’s first solo exhibition in Italy, Avremo anche giorni migliori, at the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia (2019), as well as her performance during Maestro Muti’s Peace Concert in Ravenna and Paestum, and the exhibition Il tempo delle farfalle at PAC in Milan (2020–2021).
In 2021, she presented Badiucao’s first solo exhibition in Brescia, La Cina (non) è vicina, which was later expanded and presented at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague from May 12 to August 28, 2022 and in European Parlament in Bruxelles the same year.

In November 2022, she presented Victoria Lomasko at the same venue and curated the Italian edition of her first translated book, Altre Russie.

She authored the graphic memoir Zodiac for Ai Weiwei’s studio, published by Penguin Random House in the US in January 2024, translated in French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Thai. 

As an independent researcher, she has published articles both in Italy and internationally. An extended interview about her work appeared in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics: Lines Telling ‘Real’ Stories. A Conversation with Elettra Stamboulis on the Rise and Development of Graphic Journalism in Italy.