Michaela-Maria Karathanou-Nikolaidi (MiMa) is a visual artist living and working in Athens. She grew up between Athens and Grevena — two different environments that shaped her relationship with nature, space, and human experience. For as long as she can remember, creation and artistic expression have been an inner need and a way of understanding the world.

Her academic journey began at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), where she studied Mining Engineering and completed her postgraduate studies in Underground Works (2014–2019). In 2021, she was admitted to the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), where she developed her artistic practice through painting, mixed media, installations, and marble sculpture.

Her relationship with matter is a fundamental element of her work. Marble, as a material with a monumental presence and historical depth, functions for her as a carrier of memory and transformation, while the coexistence of different materials becomes a way to explore the relationship between the material and the immaterial.

In her works, the human form often acts as a symbol of collective experience, consciousness, and the search for a deeper connection with the entirety of existence. Through organic forms, symbolism, and multi-layered compositions, she explores questions about who the human being is beyond their physical state and how they perceive the reality that surrounds them.

Her artistic research draws inspiration from the spiritual traditions of ancient civilizations around the world and from humanity's timeless effort to understand its place in the universe. Her travels and contact with different cultures are part of this continuous quest, transferring experiences, symbols, and ideas into her contemporary visual language.