Spyros Ornerakis

He studied interior decoration and set design in Athens and worked for many years as a graphic designer in the advertising industry.

In 1971, he began collaborating with Tachydromos magazine, designing covers and creating illustrations. At the same time, he worked as a regular political cartoonist for the newspapers Ta Nea and To Vima.

Following the restoration of democracy in Greece in 1974, he became a staff cartoonist at Kathimerini. Numerous contributions to Greek newspapers and magazines followed.

He also worked as a set designer for theatre and television. A significant part of his artistic career has been devoted to illustrating books published by the Greek Organisation for Schoolbook Publications (OESV), as well as children's books, short stories, novels and poetry collections.

In 1974, one of his cartoons concerning the referendum on the form of government in Greece attracted considerable attention:

“…We didn't want the monarchy to return, so a group of us launched a campaign against it. We had decided not to sign our work because we had lived through the bitter experience of the military dictatorship and were afraid of getting beaten to a pulp.

So I created a series of cartoons, including the one with the little man peeing, which I didn't consider particularly important at the time. And yet, it ended up becoming a symbol. It became the dominant emblem at the demonstrations against the monarchy.

The public's desire for change was so strong that, although I personally considered the drawing somewhat vulgar, people embraced it. The cartoon had captured the prevailing sentiment of society at that time.”

In 1975, he was awarded second prize at an international cartoon exhibition.

“I can't remember the exact title. The exhibition's theme had something to do with democracy. I had drawn Athena, representing democracy, with the Greek letter Δ (the initial of the Greek word for democracy) on her shield. Beneath her stood the leading figures of the military dictatorship at the time — Pattakos, Makarezos and Papadopoulos — trying to bring down the statue with their pickaxes. But as it fell, it was about to crush them.”

— Spyros Ornerakis, from an interview with TVxs.

Throughout his career, he has covered major events in Greek public life, including the trial of the leaders of the military dictatorship (1975), the Koskotas trial (1991), and the trial of the November 17 terrorist organisation (2003), among others.

Following the conclusion of the “Great Trial” (the Koskotas trial), these drawings, many of which had never been published, were collected in the book *The Chronicle of the Great Trial – Ornerakis 91*, published by Adam Editions.

In 2006, he received an award from the Botsis Foundation in recognition of his long and successful career in the press. Through his iconic cartoons, he had documented some of the most significant events in modern Greek history, including the historic trials following the restoration of democracy and the trial of the November 17 organisation.

In 1994, he founded the Ornerakis School of Drawing, which continues to operate today and has helped nurture numerous contemporary artists and illustrators.

His most recent work, currently awaiting publication, is a graphic novel depicting the life of the prominent Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos, created in collaboration with the National Research Foundation “Eleftherios K. Venizelos”.

Spanning more than 400 pages, it is a project that Ornerakis himself has described as his life's work.

From an early age, he would visit Eleftherios Venizelos's house with his mother, an experience that sparked a profound admiration for the political leader and inspired a vision that stayed with him throughout his life.

The greatest challenge of this historical graphic novel lies in faithfully capturing, through its artwork, the historical reality of Venizelos's era, including the places, atmosphere and period in which he lived and acted.