Yannis Kontos

Award-winning photographer Yannis Kontos is no stranger to unusual situations. From the everyday life of an amputee in Sierra Leone to warzones around the world, to the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea, Kontos’s lens has captured unadorned but with respect a set of realities unknown to global audiences. His work has been featured in many well-respected publications like Life magazine or the cover of Time magazine. Social issues and the human factor are always center stage in the World Press Photo winner’s 30 year-long career in documentary work, but for his landscape art, it seems that he takes quite a different approach. Currently, Yannis Kontos is an Assistant Professor of Visual Studies and Creative Industries at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of United Arab Emirates University. He holds a PhD degree in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales (UK) and a Master of Arts degree in Photographic Journalism from the University of Westminster (UK).

ACADEMIC

2011 - PhD degree in Documentary Photography - University of South Wales (UK)

2006 - Master of Arts degree in Photographic Journalism -University of Westminster (UK)

2001 - BA in Photography - University of West Attica, Greece

1994 - BA in Physical Education and Sport Science - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece


PROFESSIONAL

2001 - World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass
Rotterdam, Netherlands

SOLO EXHIBITIONS – SELECTION

2016 The Ice Project | A35, Athens

2016 North Korea: Red Utopia | RE-culture 4, Patras

2011 Aporias & North Korea: Red Utopia | Photometria Photo Festival, Municipal Art Gallery, Ioannina

2007 North Korea: Red Utopia | Couvent des Minimes, Visa Pour l’image, Perpignan

2007 North Korea: Red Utopia | Frissiras Museum, Athens

2007 Possible / Impossible: Aporias | Frissiras Museum, Athens

2006 US/Mexico Border Crossing | Canon Exhibition Hall, Visa Pour l’image, Perpignan

2005 Yannis Kontos: Photojournalist | Four Exhibitions (1) Kythera Photographic Encounters
(2) Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki (3) 12th International Month of Photography, Athens
(4) Foundation for Thracian Art and Tradition, Xanthi

2004 Kabul Photographers | Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki



GROUP EXHIBITIONS – SELECTION

2019 Visions from Europe | Museo della Fotografia Pino Settanni, Matera

2016 Break the Chain, Stop Human Trafficking | Technopolis, Athens

2016 Another life: Human flows / Unknown Odysseys | Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki

2015 Sea Change, A photo documentary about young Europeans | Four Exhibitions (1) House of Literature,
Oslo (2) Literarisches Colloquium, Berlin (3) Kapittel festival, Stavanger (4) Literatuha...