Nikos Pilos
Photographer, Videographer @ freelancer / Based in Athens, Istanbul, Belgrade
Nikos Pilos is an award-winning photojournalist currently based in Athens, Greece, and one of Europe’s noted feature photographers. He has traveled extensively to document war, natural disasters, poverty, socioeconomic struggle and cultural shifts. His work appears regularly in top international newspapers and magazines and has been exhibited throughout Europe.
Since his first assignment in Lebanon in 1988, he has covered major historical events such as the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars in former Yugoslavia, the war in Iraq where he spent 100 days without being embedded and the latest Lebanese conflict. Most recently, he documented the humanitarian crisis on the Libya-Tunisia border in 2011, when hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Libya during the civil war. For the past three years, he has been mainly covering the Greek and the Cypriot recession, the Istanbul uprisings, the rise of nationalism in Europe and the current refugee crisis.
His photos have been featured, among others, in The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Stern, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, The Financial Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Guardian, XL Semanal, Gente, Bloomberg, Internazionale, L'Esspreso etc.
He is currently represented by Laif agency in Germany.
LATEST AWARDS
POY 2021, second place in the category, Issue reporting picture story with the story THE REFUGE- 55 Square meters. https://www.instagram.com/p/CL60kP3nFN6/ , https://www.poy.org/78/winners.htmlPx3, Paris Photography 2020, Bronze medal in the category Press/ feature with the story THE REFUGE 55 square meters, https://px3.fr/winners/px3/2020/11081/ and Bronze medal in the category Press/ people/ Personality, THE REFUGE- The squatters, https://px3.fr/winners/px3/2020/11103/
POY. 2020 Award of Excellence in category, Documentary News Reporting, with the short doc The Refuge. https://poy.org/77/18/aoe04.html
Global Migration Film Festival 2019, supported by I.O.M 3rd place at the category Short film ,with documentary“Dying For Europe .
FilmAid Film Festival 2019 Nairobi, Kenya. Supported by UNHCR Dying for Europe, won Best Non- Fiction Film
TIFF ODA 2019 Kosovo, Tetovo, Win Panorama - Short Documentary for the documentary Dying for Europe
PriMed 2018 International Festival of Mediterranean Documentary and Reportage France. Public Award with the documentary Dying for Europe.
World Press photo 2017. Category: short film, second place with the documentary Trapped.
POYi ,2016 Category: Exosus, second place with the story The Road Of Tears.
POYi, 2016 Category: Multimedia News Story, third palce with the story, Dying to enter Europe.
IPA 2016, silver meatal at the category multimedia with the story Dying for Europe abd Honorable mention at the category reportage witht the story Trapped.
MIFA, 2016 Category: Moving images: Documentary, First place, at the Category Moving Images Professional, second Place, with the story, Dying to enter Europe and honorable mention with the photo essay, Trapped
Px3, Paris Photography, 2016, Category General News, Gold Metal with the story Trapped.
VISUAL LEADER 2016, bronze metal in the category reportage, with the story “Exodus”
Visura Photojournalism grant 2016. Top finalist with the story “Trapped”
Px3Paris Photography 2015, Bronze metal for the story “Alevi, The Unknown People”.
Fotovisura Grand 2014, Finalist for the story “Seven Years of Recession”.
Px3 Paris Photography 2014, Gold medal for the story “Dying for Electricity” and Silver medal for the story “Turkey Reacts”.
NPPA 2014, Honorable mention for the story “Turkey Reacts”.
POYi 2014, Finalist in the World Understanding category for the story “Greece, Seven Years of Recession”.
Lucie Awards, 2013, Finalist for the story “Greece, Seven Years of Recession”.
PX3-Prix De la Photographie 2013, Gold medal in the Portraits category for a photograph of a member of the Golden Dawn.
CHIPP - China International Press Photo Contest 2012, Award in the Economy Science & Technology category for the story “The coal mines”.
EXHIBITIONS
THE REFUGE- 55 Square meters. Roma Fotografia 2020. Lodi, Italy https://www.roma-fotografia.it/this-is-us/
THE REFUGE- 55 Square meters Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2020 https://www.momus.gr/exhibition/anthropauseDying for Europe, short documentary, Pre Med, International Festival of Meditterranean documentary and reportage, November 2018, Marseille, France. http://primed.tv/dying-for-europe/?lang=en
Dying for Europe, short documentary, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival,March 2018. https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/movie-tdf/movie/8328
Trapped, Medphoto festival, January 2018. Rethimno, Crete, Greece http://medphoto.gr/portfolio/nikos-pilos/
Trapped, World Press Photo Festival, Amsterdam, Holland April 2017.
Trapped, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Georgia, May 2017
Chaos/Youth Resistance Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia December 2016
Exodus, Photographic Nights, Contemporary Museum of Cologne, Germany October 2016
Exodus, House of Photography, Hamburg, Germany August- October 2016
The Journey to Humanity- Unlocked, DIG festival (Open Migration platform), San Marino Italy, July 2016
A concert for the refugees, Concert Hall Organization of Thessaloniki, Greece, June 2016. A video installation with title "Boarders Kill" was screened accompanied by Mahler's Adagietto played by the city of Thesaloniki symphony orchestra. The earnings was given to the refugee camp of Diavata.
Unstable Fields, Athens Photo Festival, Greece, June 2016
Exodus, Zingst Photofestival, Germany May 2016
Another Life: Human Flows/ Unknow Odysseys. Museum of Photography Thessaloniki, Greece, May 2016
Greece and the EU debt crisis, The Browse Gallery, Berlin, October 2015.
Lives in the Streets, Onassis Foundation, (Curator of eight Schedia vendors, all of whom are or have been homeless, were each given a camera. Their mission: to capture Athens life from their own unique perspective; to record what catches their eye and captures their imagination; to show us the city through their eyes without restraints or limitations.). April 2015, Athens, Greece.
“Nicosia, the Last Divided Capital of Europe”, Bursa Photo Festival, Turkey, December 2014.
“The Death of the Greek Industry”, Moving Walls 21, Open Society Foundation, New York City and Washington D.C., January 2014.
“Cyprus, Casualties of an Economic War”, The Browse Fotofestival, Berlin, 2013.
“An Underground Political Culture”, The Browse Fotofestival, Berlin, 2012.
“Greeks Take to the Streets”, projection, Visa Pour L'Image Festival 2011, Perpignan, France.
“Berlin, The Invisible Wall Line”, International Photobiennale 2010, Thessaloniki, Greece.