Demetris Koilalous was born in Athens.
Between 1980 and 1989 he was based in the UK where he studied “Town and Country Planning” in Edinburgh and “Geography” in London. He took up photography in 1982. He works as a freelance photographer since 1990 specializing in Portrait, Theatre an Advertising Photography. He has worked with public and private organizations, central and local government, museums, national and municipal theatres. His works are found in private, public and museum collections among which The Arab Image Foundation, HeadOn Photo Foundation, CENTER Santa-Fe, and the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki. His work has been exhibited in festivals museums & galleries in Greece, France, Ireland, USA, Australia, Malaysia, Wales, Georgia, Portugal and Lithuania and has received numerous awards and distinctions. His book «CAESURA ; the duration of a sigh» was published by KEHRER-Verlag in July 2018 and has received numerous distinctions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019-03 ● “the duration of a sigh; CAESURA” Benaki Museum; Athens, Greece
2015-07 ● “Lebanese Notebook; AntiParadise” Chios Photo Festival, Chios, Greece
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022-06 ● “CAESURA”; “Landscape stories” MOMUS Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki; Thessaloniki-GREECE
2020-02 ● “HETEROTOPIA”; “Any more Odes” City of Athens Art Centre, curated by Vangelis Ioakimides; Athens-GREECE
2019-10 ● “CAESURA”; “Novas Visões Na Fotografia Contemporânea” Imago Lisboa; curated by Rui Prata; Lisbon-PORTUGAL
2019-09 ● “Lebanese Notebook; AntiParadise” “Liban, Réalités & Fictions” - 3eme Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe Contemporaine” Institut du Monde Arabe; curated by Gabriel Bauret, Paris-FRANCE
2018-12 ● “CAESURA; the duration of a sigh” nominated for PRIX PICET 2019, “Hope”
2018-07 ● “HETEROTOPIA”; “curated Artist”, Head on Photo Festival, curated by Moshe Rosenzveig; Sydney-AUSTRALIA
2018-01 ● “CAESURA”; “Critical Archives III: Identities” MEDPHOTO FESTIVAL; Museum of Modern Art, Rethymno-GREECE
2017-10 ● “CAESURA”; “Local Stories”; LM Gallery; curation N. Kassianou, Piraeus-GREECE
2017-09 ● “CAESURA”; “family”, Kuala-Lumpur International Photo Awards 2017 Kuala Lumpur-MALAYSIA
2017-08 ● “CAESURA”; shortlisted & exhibited “Freedom” Aperture Summer Open, Aperture, New York- USA
2017-06 ● “CAESURA”; “YICCA International Awards 2017” Rooster Gallery, Vilnius-LIITHUANIA
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; shortlisted & exhibited CENTER Santa Fe Photo Festival, New Mexico-USA
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; “Portrait & Mobile prizes exhibition” Head on Photo Festival, curated by Moshe Rosenzveig; Sydney-AUSTRALIA
2017-05 ● “HETEROTOPIA”; shortlisted & exhibited “Conceptual Series”; KOLGA Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi-GEORGIA
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; shortlisted & exhibited in “Documentary Series”; KOLGA Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi-GEORGIA
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; shortlisted and exhibited "the Recount of Conflict" PhotoIreland; Pallas Projects Studios, Dublin-IRELAND
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; shortlisted and exhibited in "ZEITGEIST" Cardiff International Festival of Photography; Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff-UK
2017-05 ● “CAESURA”; “Les Boutographies” Festival; Montpellier-FRANCE
2016-06 ● “CAESURA the duration of a sigh”; “Misplaced - Displaced” Athens Photo Festival; Benaki Museum; Athens-GREECE
2015 ● assigned by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation to photograph sites & people of Chios Island for the Chios Mastic Museum
2012 ● “Lebanese Notebook; AntiParadise” “Trois Photographes Grecs au Moyen-Orien d’aujourd’hui” PhotoMed festival; curated by Vangelis Ioakimidis Toulon-FRANCE
2012 ● “Lebanese Notebook; AntiParadise” “oriented and disoriented in the Middle East”, Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki; curated by Vangelis Ioakimidis; Thessaloniki-GREECE
2011 ● commissioned by the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki to photograph contemporary Lebanon as part of government project “Thessaloniki at the crossroads of civilizations” initiated by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Tourism
2010 ● “déjà vu” participation/projection in the 21st photobiennale of Thessaloniki 'TOPOS'; the Archaeological museum of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki-GREECE
2009 ● “Earth/Tracks” participation in the exhibition for the Prix Pictet Awards, Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki (ThMPhoto); curated by Gabriel Bauret & Vangelis Ioakimidis
BOOKS
2018-07 ● “CAESURA thew duration of a sigh” authors: Bill Kouwenhoven / Demetris Koilalous, publisher: KEHRER VERLAG July 2018
PUBLIICATIONS • CATALOGUES
2021 ● “Unravelling Persuation” Demetris Koilalous & other authors, publisher AKKADIA PRESS, The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar
2019-08 ● “LIBAN, RÉALITÉS & FICTIONS” Exhibition catalogue for Institut du Monde Arabe, publisher: SILVANA EDITORIALE August 2019
2017-10 ● “CAESURA” & “HETEROTOPIA” Exhibition catalogue for KOLGA Tbilisi Photo Festival, publisher: xxxxxx August 2017
2017-10 ● “CAESURA thew duration of a sigh” Life-FRAMER travelling exhibition catalogue 2017
due ● “New Cosmopolitan Visions of Greece in Global Contemporary Art” Kelley Tialliou PhD Thesis
the book “CAESURA , the duration of a sigh” published by KEHRER VERLAG [authors: Bill Kouwenhoven and Demetris Koilalous]
has received the following awards and distinctions:
SEP 2019 ● Finalist ‘first book’, 3rd LUCIE Photobook Prize Awards 2019
AUG 2019 ● Gold Winner for documentary Book, Moscow International Fotography Awards 2019
AUG 2019 ● Bronze Winner for documentary Book, Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris 2019
JUL 2019 ● Honorable mention for documentary Book, International Photography Awards 2019
JUN 2019 ● Silver Winner for documentary Book, Tokyo International Foto Awards 2018
JUN 2019 ● Shortlisted in Belfast Photo Festival 2019
APR 2019 ● Chosen and exhibited in 2019 Photobook exhibition in PhotoWien
JAN 2017 ● Shortlisted in Gomma Grant 2016
AWARDS and DINSTICTIONS
PRIX PICTET - “HUMAN” (2023) Nomination • “HETEROTOPIA”
PRIX PICTET - “HOPE” (2019) Nomination • “CAESURA; THE DURATION OF A SIGH”
FOTOFILMIC 18 June 2019 Grand winner • “HETEROTOPIA” Buschlen Mowatt Nichol Foundation
CENTER Photo Festival Santa Fe, Exhibitor’s choice 2017 1st place Award • “CAESURA”
Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards 2017 “Photo Stories - FAMILY”, 1st place Award • “CAESURA”
FOTOFILMIC “Solo II exhibition Award” November 2017 Runner Up • “HETEROTOPIA” Juried by Alec Soth
Renaissance Photography Prize 2017 “Borders” & “Life” categories, finalist • “CAESURA”
PDN “Storytellers” 2017, runner up • “CAESURA”
Life-FRAMER “Series Award” 2017 runner up • “CAESURA”
YICCA International Awards 2017 Italy, 1st prize • “HETEROTOPIA”
Head On Photo Festival (Australia), “Head On Mobile” Prizes 2017 1st prize • “CAESURA”
Head On Photo Festival (Australia), “Head On Portrait” Prizes 2017 2nd prize • “CAESURA”
Life-FRAMER, “Still Life” 2017 theme 1st prize • “CAESURA”
PRESENTATIONS - TALKS
Demetris Koilalous (speaker) “THE DURATION OF A SIGH” EVANGELISMOS GENERAL HOSPITAL 27th Annual Conference of Lifelong Medical Education Seminar • Athens 2022
Demetris Koilalous (Artist Talk) “THE DURATION OF A SIGH” MOMUS -Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki
[Artist Talk -part of exhibition “Landscape Stories”] • Thessaloniki 2022
Kelley Tialliou “GREECE as a New Babel: Displacement and the Cosmopolitan Aesthetics of Demetris Koilalous” NUEVA BABEL University of Barcelona, Faculty of Geography and History • Barcelona 2021
Demetris Koilalous (speaker) “THE DURATION OF A SIGH” 1st TEDX CHIOS theme: Apoplous (Setting Sail) • Chios 2019
Demetris Koilalous (speaker) “MOBILITIES in/of Crises: Critical Investigations” THE FRENCH SCHOOL OF ATHENS part of the program “Balcan Futures”
• Athens 2018
