Maro Kouri

Assignments:

She has covered special assignments in China, Japan, Palestine, Bangladesh, India, Tanzania, Tunisia, Malaysia, Turkey, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Israel, Greece, Italy, U.K., France, Netherlands, Luxemburg, FYROM, Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Oman and other countries transferring the human struggle for freedom to her images and texts.

The first dawn of 2000 found Maro gazing through her lens at the Maori sacred mountain Hikurangi in New Zealand. In 2004, she took unique photographs of Athens flying on the Olympic zeppelin. In 2006, she was the exclusive photojournalist (photographs & interview) at Cesaria Evora’s home in Mindelo, Cape Verde. In 2007, she covered the life of the mentally disturbed, drug-addicts and homeless in Athens. Since 2010, she has been covering the consequences of the economic crisis in Greece. In 2011, she travelled to Tunisia το cover the Revolution of Dignity. She has travelled in India and Bangladesh to reveal the e-waste and shipbreaking issues.

Since 2015, she is covering the refugee crisis in Greece and Europe, by travelling along with groups of refugees: Syrian refugees’ journey to Europe, Refugee children art therapy and interview of Maro Kouri on Huffington Post

Publications:

Her photographic images and articles have been published in international Press:

BBC, LFI, Journal du Dimanche, Newsweek, Vice, Huffington Post, Take Part, Dagens Nyheter, Der Spiegel, Days Japan, National Geographic, Nzz, Marie Claire, Vimagazino, K, Vice, D la Republica, Colors, Art in America, i-d, La Vanguardia, CNN

Awards:

• UNESCO honor, 2^nd Art Mediterranean Forum, Beirut, 2003
• 1^st Prize, International Competition SCOOP, “Albino Talisman” 2009
• Honor, Photo Press Union of Greece, 2010
• Best pictures, LIFE web magazine, 2011
• Gold Medal, International Competition PX3, “Sparagmos” 2014
• ND awards, Ηonorable mention, “The Odyssey of Refugees” 2016

Exhibitions:

She has participated in numerous social, anti-racist and ecology festivals, globally and her work has been exhibited internationally:

• Barcelona 1995, 1996 – Visual Marathon
• Bic (Spain) 1996, New York 1999 – Mobile Art Museum, “Velocity”
• Thessaloniki 1997 – Cultural Capital of Europe: “Light – Motion – Life”
• Barcelona 1998 – Spring of Photography: “Racism”
• Athens 1999 – Diavasi Cultural Center: “Glances at the World”
• Johannesburg 1999- 1st Cultural Month, “Smiles of the World”
• Rhodes 2000 – 1st Mediterranean Women’s Peace Forum, “Women of the World”
• Athens 2001, National park, 5^th Ecofestival
• Zagreb 2001 – “Woman’s room-woman’s view”
• Ankara 2002 – FAM, Turkish and Greek women artists
• Athens 2002 – Coronet Theater “Images in the Dark” – the Prague Black Theater.
• Beirut 2003 – FAM Mediterranean women artists exhibit for Peace
• Izmir 2004 – FAM Turkish and Greek artists
• Athens 2004 – Olympic Games “Catch the light”: Photographs exhibited in buildings in the city.
• Athens 2006 – “Mama Africa” festival
• Athens 2006 – EPASKT & Diavasi: “Landscapes of thought, of the world, of the universe” in conjunction with Elena Polihronatou’s paintings & astrophysicist Elena Hatzihristou’s photographs of the universe.
• Athens Hilton The Byzantine restaurant, 2006 – Ethnic Photo multi projections
• Athens 2007 – Photo-projections “Traveling in the Human Joy of the Universe” Legalization of Cannabis festival
• Rhodes 2012 – “Women of the World”, French Consulate
• Paris 2012 – “Women of the World”, Gallery Mediatheque,
• Perpignan 2012 – Visa Pour L’ Image – opening ceremony projection of “Sparagmos, a retrospective of Greek crisis”
• Athens 2012 – “Evros, Gate to Europe”, Photometria Festival
• Paris 2014 – “Women of the World”, Andre Maraux Cultural Center
• Athens 2015 – “Odyssey of Refugees from Aegean to Berlin”, Athens School of Fine Arts
• Barcelona 2016 – “Odyssey of Refugees from Aegean to Berlin”, Casa Cultural, Lloret de Mar
• Athens 2016 – “Survival Routes”, Hellenic Parliament
• Syros 2016 – Main Speaker at TEDx University of Aegean, Apollo Theater
• Brussels 2017 – “Survival Routes”
• Athens 2017 – “Polis-Flows-Tensions –Osmosis”, M. Cacoyannis foundation

Photojournalism Workshops:

Maro shares her experiences and knowledge in photojournalism including mindfulness techniques & meditation in workshops around the world.

• Tribes in Ethiopia, 2019
• Oasis Siwa, west-desert, Egypt, 2018
• Summer & Easter Mani in South Peloponnese unknown villages and stark landscapes, 2017, 2018
• Little Homelands (2013-2019): focus on the immigrants’ lives, neighborhoods and temples.
• Dawn at the biggest Greek Fish Market.
• Oman (2015, 2017, 2018)- a collaboration with the Photographic Society of Oman.
• Elaionas Women’s Prison– volunteer work

 “There is an imaginary world behind our everyday reality and I am constantly looking for it. The source of inspiration is the ability to observe the world, the passion for travel and art, and above all the endless love for people. Photography for me is a mental practice, an agent of growth for my soul. After all, we are all helpless against the events’ flow. I hope I can photograph people’s joy, sorrow, loneliness, pain and hunger around the planet”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Maro Kouri

Information & Contact

Address: 36, Vosporou street, 104 – 44 Athens, GR

Tel: +30 210 5126290, Mobile: + 30 6977 29 58 31

E-mail: maro_kouri@yahoo.com

Website: www.marokouri.com

Rebels of the Heart

I photograph everyday women, women next door, women I meet across the globe. During my assignments I take part in aspects of their life, being present, observing with compassion and acceptance.

Fighters of survival, of family, of love, of oppressive societies, of sexism.

Despite the violence they face, they manage to smile with optimism, forgiving, living in Here and Now.

The tired, scruffy, neglected –since her childhood already– woman finds strength in her vulnerability, cure through her pain, joy in her truth.

She is a Goddess and a Female Zorba at the same time.

Women released from fashion and “looks”, dare to approach themselves in order to find bliss within them. They enjoy the embrace of their baby with pleasure even if they live in a shack.

From India and China, the Arab Emirates, from the Geishas in Japan, the albino women of Tanzania, the Revolutionaries in Tunisia, Spain and Greece, to the New Zealand Maori women and the Kilimanjaro Masai, the Revolutionaries of the Heart experience simplicity, giving all of their Being in what they do, sacredly, left trustingly in the flow of Life.

The photographs of the project “Rebels of the Heart “will
appear in the order that follows:
Agra, India
Cape Town, S. Africa
Liossia, Athens, Greece
Jog Falls, India
Rhode’s Medieval town, Greece
Sydney, Australia
Maori, N. Zealand
Tribes of Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Abu Dhabi
Zante, Greece
Kara Tepe Refugee camp, Mytilene
Gambela, Ethiopia
Albinos, Tanzania
Kyoto, Japan
Cox Bazar, Bangladesh

Homelesness, Athens, Greece
Oman
Child labour, Tanzania
Barcelona
Massai, Tanzania
Beijing, China
Tunisia
Pozar baths, Greece
Zagorohoria, Greece