Born in Washington, yet a true citizen of the world, Ioanna Gika drew the spotlight in Greece, her country of origin, in the summer of 2021, when she delivered a compelling performance at the Dior Cruise show, in the Panathenaic Stadium, against the backdrop of an orchestral piece from her album, Thalassa.

Her music and her looks are a mix of miscellaneous elements from the various countries and regions she has lived in, the USA, Greece, Southeastern Asia, which have influenced her way of thinking, but also the way she finds inspiration.

The singularity of her every performance is due to this multicultural way of thinking and finding inspiration. Such is the case of the event held in October 2023, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for the celebration of Jacolby Satterwhite’s installation, A Metta Prayer.

“I will be joined, as part of this special occasion, by The Diaphanous Ensemble and my beloved friend, talented multi-instrumentalist Aram
Kirakosyan,” she shared on her Instagram account. A noteworthy detail concerning this concert is that no tickets were issued, as seating was carried out on a first-come-first-served basis.

The Great Hall of the legendary museum will be transformed this fall into the venue hosting the multi-channeled video-installation by Jacolby Satterwhite, featuring live performances by the artist’s partners, while Gika kicked off the shows that will take place throughout the video-installation. Based on a computer-made landscape of an imaginary New York, Satterwhite’s video encompasses depictions of more than a hundred objects from the museum’s permanent collection, both 3D animation and live action scenes.

“Jacolby is a divine artist, an otherworldly presence, and it is truly an honor for me to be a part of this wonderful celebration night, but also of his radiant visual and audio universe,” points out Ioanna Gika.

The Greek-American musician, poet and composer is known for the unique universe she has built as an artist, but also for her outstanding collaborations. She has provided the music score for feature and documentary films, such as Rebel directed by Harmony Korine and Brittney vs Spears produced by Netflix, having also musically contributed to films such as Beau is Afraid produced by A24 and Dracula produced by Universal. Her song “Gone”, written for the film Snow White and the Huntsman, was Oscar shortlisted, while her lyrics have appeared in Arundhati Roy’s best-selling novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

She has published many poems, most recently Webb, a poem dedicated to the titular space telescope, featured in the literary magazine Indelible of the London Arts-Based Research Center.

“I would like to thank Indelible for the honor, as well as all NASA scientists and engineers for their tireless efforts that keep inspiring us all,” she explains. As much as she may be inspired by outer space and the future, she has her feet firmly and tenderly rooted to the present.

She continues to have a deep caring for Greece – she has spent many of her childhood summers here – regularly expressed not only through her music, but in other, more practical, ways. The latest example of this caring can be traced last August, when she put out a call to her 25,000 followers on Instagram, to make donations to a non-profitable organization, following the disastrous wildfires that severely hit many parts of the country.