Paola Revenioti, the Greek publisher, photographer and filmmaker, died at 68 after a months-long battle with cancer.
Revenioti worked for decades as a sex worker. From the late 1970s, she campaigned for LGBTQI+ visibility and acceptance, becoming a central figure in Greece’s movement. In 1981, she began publishing KRAXIMO, a magazine of homosexual expression. In the 1990s, she organised some of the first Pride events in Athens, a revolutionary step for Greek society at the time.
Over the past decade, Revenioti focused mainly on documentary filmmaking, working with the Paola Team Documentaries group and covering historical, social and political themes centred on those on the margins of society. She also worked as a radio producer at RADIOMeRA. Revenioti joined the left-wing MeRA25 party in 2019 and stood as a candidate in the 2023 Athens A constituency elections, the June 2023 national list, and the 2024 European elections.
Journalist Danae Maragoudaki announced her death in a Facebook post, writing that Revenioti left behind “one of the most important chapters” in queer community history. Through KRAXIMO, her photographs and her documentaries, Maragoudaki said, Revenioti had steadfastly defended freedom and life itself. Maragoudaki, writing alongside co-signatories Eliza Triantafyllou and Vasilis Thanasis, said further details on the funeral would follow later in the day.
In an earlier interview with NEWS24/7’s Panos Kodonas, Revenioti reflected on changing attitudes over recent decades. Trans people, she said, had once been celebrated despite the marginalisation they faced 30 to 40 years ago. Since then, she added, gentrification had changed what society considered acceptable. She was critical of what she called a hypocritical society, saying people today had become anonymous and forgotten how to live and fall in love. She reflected too on her son, saying she was especially proud of him and that he had chosen her rather than the other way round, knowing everything about her and loving her regardless.