About Me
Nikos Pilos
Nikos Pilos is an Athens-based, award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker. He is one of Europe’s noted feature photographers. He has travelled extensively to document war, natural disasters, poverty, socioeconomic struggle and cultural shifts. His work regularly appears in leading international newspapers and magazines and has been exhibited throughout Europe and U.S.
Since his first assignment in Lebanon in 1988, he has travelled at more than 60 countries covering many major historical events. These include the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars in former Yugoslavia, the war in Iraq, the 2006 conflict in Lebanon, and the humanitarian crisis on the Libya-Tunisia border in 2011.
From 2008 onward he has been covering the Greek and the Cypriot recession, the social and political transformations in Turkey, including the Istanbul uprisings, the rise of nationalism in Europe and the refugee crisis. The last years he has been dedicated to the realization of the cross-media interactive platform, “THE REFUGE,” with support from imedd and the current war in Ukraine.
Nikos has been invited as both a guest speaker and lecturer at New York University (2018, 2019, 2020,2023, 2024), Columbia University School of the Arts (2014, 2021), Princeton University (2023) National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2020-2021), Athens photo world Festival 2019, Bronx Documentary Center (2014, 2023). and recently received a Fulbright award at NYU for New Media and he was teaching at NYU Tisch school of the Arts a class call it Photography and Democracy.
LATEST AWARDS
POY 2021, second place in the category, Issue reporting picture story with the storyTHE REFUGE- 55 Square meters.
Px3, Paris Photography 2020, Bronze medal in the category Press/ feature with the storyTHE REFUGE 55 square meters,and Bronze medal in the category Press/ people/ Personality, THE REFUGE- The squatters,
POY. 2020 Award of Excellence in category, Documentary News Reporting, with the short doc The Refuge.
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 Dyingn 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.
POY ,2016 Category: Exodus, second place with the story The Road Of Tears.
POY, 2016 Category: Multimedia News Story, third place with the story, Dying for Europe.
MIFA, 2016 Category: At the Category Moving images Documentary First place, at the Category Moving Images Professional second place, with the story, Dying for Europe. Honorable mention with the photo essay, Trapped.
VISUAL LEADER 2016 Bronze medal in the category reportage, with the story “Exodus”
IPA 2016 Silver medal at the category multimedia with the story Dying for Europe and Honorable mention at the category reportage with the story Trapped.
Px3, 2016, Category General News, Gold medal with the story Trapped.
Visura Photojournalism grant 2016 Top finalist with the story “Trapped”
Px3 Paris Photography 2015, Bronze medal 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 medalfor the story “Turkey Reacts”.
NPPA 2014, Honorable mention for the story “Turkey Reacts”.
POY 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- FILM FESTIVALS
THE REFUGE- 55 Square meters. Roma Fotografia 2020. Lodi, Italy
THE REFUGE- 55 Square meters Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2020
Dying for Europe, short documentary, Pre Med, International Festival of Meditterranean
documentary and reportage, November 2018, Marseille, France.
Dying for Europe, short documentary, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival,March 2018.
Trapped, Medphoto festival, January 2018. Rethimno, Crete, Greece.
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 Thessaloniki symphony orchestra. The earnings was given to the refugee camp of Diavata.
“Unstable Fields”, Athens Photo Festival, Greece, Benaki Museum, June 2016
“Exodus”, Zingst Photo festival, Germany May 2016
Another Life: Human Flows/ Unknown 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, April 2015, Athens, Greece. (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.)
“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 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”, Athens Photo Festival 2011.
“Berlin, The Invisible Wall Line”, International Photo biennale 2010, Thessaloniki, Greece.
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