Nafsika Pastra was born in Kalamata in 1921 and passed away in Athens in 2011.
She studied sculpture at the Sommerakademie of Salzburg (1957), in Vienna under the cubist sculptor F. Wotruba (1957-1962), and at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris under J. Cassou (1967-1973).
Starting with her first solo exhibition at the Würthle Gallery in Vienna (1963), Pastra held numerous solo and group exhibitions, including UNESCO’s Femini in Paris (1977, 1985), the Alexandria Biennale (1982), Europalia (1982), the Biennale of Contemporary Art at the Skyronio Museum, and Athens by Art (2004). She received the Fuger prize (1959), the Galerie Würthle prize (1962), and the third prize for sculpture at the Alexandria Biennale. Her work ‘Synectron’ was awarded a Patent in France (1971). She also distinguished herself in a competition for the design of a public square in the Municipality of Montreuil in Paris, presenting the study titled ‘Synectron-Square-Circle’.
The structural core of her work consists of exploring the relationship between the circle and the square, with the ultimate goal of achieving harmony. Space is structured through the repetition of geometric relationships and mathematical laws with absolute order, discipline, and simplicity.