Iro Kanakaki was born in Piraeus in 1945. (Her family came from the province of ​​Amari, prefecture of Rethymnon, Crete). She was granted a scholarship and studied engraving at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1965 – 1969) under Kostas Grammatopoulos. She was an active member and leader of the student movement while a member of the Board of the Athens School of Fine Arts Student Association. She was arrested on the first days of the 1967 military coup as a member of the Central Council of the National Student Union of Greece and was exiled to Gyaros.

She held her first solo exhibition in 1972 at Ora Art Gallery, where she also exhibited in 1974, 1977, 1979 and 1985. She designed the cover of the first issue of Anti magazine (1972). She continued her studies at Croydon College of Art (1973 – 1975) specializing in silkscreen printing, lithography, engraving, bookbinding and art history. She worked for the BBC Greek Service and in 1980 she represented Greece, together with other artists, at the Paris Biennale.

She returned to Athens in 1989. She also taught at the Vakalo School. She presented her work in several solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. She died in 1997 at the age of 52. Posthumously, her work was exhibited at Nees Morfes art gallery and the Vakalo School in 1998. She was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.