About us

Thanassis Stavrakis and his partners, courtesy of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, present Athens Photo World, a cultural event centred on photojournalism and its protagonists.

The first Athens Photo World honours with its exhibitions and events photojournalist Yannis Behrakis, focusing on his longstanding, rich and award-winning work and his significant contribution to both Greek and international photojournalism.

From the 7^th to the 16^th of June 2019, locals and visitors of Athens will come “face to face” with the global reality of the planet through the gaze and the work of experienced and recognised photographers.

Athens Photo World aims to showcase the work of photojournalists and their contribution to shaping the image of our world and documenting moments of history in the making, in times of political and social upheaval and reclassification.

At the same time, an intended purpose is to showcase Athens as the meeting point of photographers at a time of rapid transmission of images, news and developments.

Digital projections and large printed photographs will be exhibited at selected points of the urban fabric of the city centre, in areas that are key to the circulation of the public at all times of the day. Photographs that have been reference points in news casting, and photographers who have inspired new generations of artists with their work, turn Athens into the centre of lively and combatant photojournalism. Every year, the photos of Greek and guest photojournalists will reveal moments of everyday life of different cities on the planet, close and far. Photos published in major news media and awarded in the most important competitions worldwide, approach the Athenian audience, signalling the active role and the dynamics of the Greek capital in the contemporary international cultural scene.

The images come out of the narrow frames of a screen and stand in front of us, in large prints, imposing by themselves and as real as they can be, in order to say “Look”.

The arrow head of Athens Photo World will be the annual honouree, a prestigious photojournalist, whose work will be presented to the SNFCC with parallel events, discussions with selected guests and direct interaction with the public. This year APW will be dedicated to Yannis Behrakis who gave a positive and dynamic energy to this initiative since the beginning of the project.

At the same time, the World Press Photo Exhibition for 2019 will be presented at the SNFCC. The Greek capital for the next three years will be the first stop of the world’s most important photo exhibition. Meanwhile, in key areas of the centre of Athens will be exhibited a series of selected photos of the Associated Press agency as well as the photos of important and acclaimed Greek photographers such as Petros Giannakouris, Alkis Konstantinidis, Louiza Gouliamaki, Dimitris Michalakis and Nikos Pilos among many others.

With the intention to contribute actively to the support and encouragement of new photojournalists, as well as to the realisation of the vision of Yannis Behrakis, the Athens Photo World and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation intend to establish two annual financial awards for Greek and international photojournalists.

The first Athens Photo World is realized with the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, in collaboration with Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and with the support of Athens Culture Net, the National Garden, the Ephorate of Antiquities, the Office of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of Attica, the Greek Archaeologists Association, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and under the auspices of the City of Athens.