Sunday November 13, 2005, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Young Abu, 7, buttons his father's collar in the family's shelter in the amputee camp, northwest of Freetown on November 13, 2005. Abu Bakarr Kargbo, 31, was one of the thousands of amputees afflicted by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) atrocities during the civil war that devastated Sierra Leone from 1991 till 2002.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Saturday March 1, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Iraqi man walks towards the Martyrs Memorial in Baghdad.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Saturday April 2, 2005, Krakow, Poland

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A young Pole mourns for Pope John Paul II's death in front of the Bishop's Palace in Krakow, southern Poland, where Cardinal Karol Wojtyla lived, before becoming Pope. Pope John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years and helped topple communism in Europe while becoming the most-traveled pope, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment after a long public struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84.

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Tuesday June 29, 2004, Baghdad, Iraq

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A street scene of Baghdad's Rasheed market is reflected through a mural of Shiite Muslim Saint Imam Hussein. Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammad, was killed in a battle on the plains of Karbala. The battle, part of a dispute over leadership of the faith that followed Mohammed's death nearly 50 years earlier, was a key event in Islam's split into the majority Sunni and minority Shiite branches. Karbala was at the center of a bloody Shiite revolt against Saddam's rule soon after his army was driven out of Kuwait in 1991. The United States handed over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on June 28, formally ending a 14-month occupation two days earlier than expected to try to forestall guerrilla attacks.

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Friday June 25, 2004, Baghdad, Iraq

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U.S. Army soldiers from the 2-12 CAV, 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Brigade arrest an Iraqi suspect during house to house searches looking for insurgents in Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad as the handover of sovereignty approaches. Rebels bent on disrupting a handover to Iraqi rule bloodied five cities on June 24, 2004 with coordinated assaults on local security forces in which about 90 people, including three U.S. soldiers, were killed. The violence in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi, Mosul and Baghdad intensified a sustained campaign by Iraqi insurgents and foreign militants to sabotage Iraq 's formal transition from U.S.-led occupation to an interim government in six days' time.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Sunday May 1, 2005, Pyongyang, Korea

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The monument to the founding of the workers' party of Korea in Pyongyang. It was erected to convey down the glorious history of the Workers' Party of Korea composed of workers, farmers and intellectuals. Built on the occasion of the 50th birthday of the WPK on October 9, 1995, it is situated in the heart of Munsu Street opposite the Taedong River. It occupies an area of 25 hectares. The tower body depicts a hammer, sickle and brush held by a worker, farmer and intellectual with the height of 50 m. For decades North Korea has been one of the world's most secretive societies. It is one of the few remaining countries still under communist rule. Hopes that its rigid isolation might have been coming to an end have been scotched by an ongoing nuclear crisis. North Korea emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. Its history is dominated by its Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, who shaped political affairs for almost half a century.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Wednesday May 4, 2005, Pyongyang, Korea

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North Koreans visit Mansudae Grand Monument on Mansu Hill to pay their respects to Great Leader, Kim Il-sung. For decades North Korea has been one of the world's most secretive societies. It is one of the few remaining countries still under communist rule. Hopes that its rigid isolation might have been coming to an end have been scotched by an ongoing nuclear crisis. North Korea emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. Its history is dominated by its Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, who shaped political affairs for almost half a century.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Sunday August 13, 2006, Pyongyang, North Korea

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For decades reclusive North Korea has been one of the world's most secretive societies. It is one of the few remaining countries still under communist rule. Hopes that its rigid isolation might have been coming to an end have been scotched by an ongoing nuclear crisis. North Korea emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. Its history is dominated by its Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, who shaped political affairs for almost half a century.

In school uniforms, three young girls carry what appear to be replicas of AK-47 rifles down a street in Pyongyang.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Wednesday May 4, 2005, Pyongyang, Korea

Yannis Kontos portfolio

North Koreans use Pyongyang Metro for their transportation. For decades North Korea has been one of the world's most secretive societies. It is one of the few remaining countries still under communist rule. Hopes that its rigid isolation might have been coming to an end have been scotched by an ongoing nuclear crisis. North Korea emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. Its history is dominated by its Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, who shaped political affairs for almost half a century.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Tuesday July 4, 2006, Riau Islands, Indonesia

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Known as paradise for pirates, the Malacca Strait is one of the most pirate-infested sea lanes in the world - and it is also one of the busiest. Although sea piracy has tripled in the past 10 years around the world, the Straits of Malacca was ranked as the most dangerous sea route, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). With 200 to 600 ships crossing the Straits daily, this narrow channel with forested shorelines and islet hideaways offers pirates amble opportunities to ransack, kidnap or kill the crew, and worse still, hijack the vessel. The narrow waterway carries more than a quarter of the world's trade, and almost all the oil imports destined for Japan and China. Piracy has been a problem for centuries, but it has been getting worse in recent years. Since the 11 September attacks on the US, the threat of attacks in the region has also increased. In the first months of 2006, the high-sea criminals seemed to decrease their daring assaults at will for almost a year, as the three states bordering the waterway - Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore - have launched aggressive joint measures to try to cut piracy, including air and naval patrols.

Pirates Awang (L), Nande,(R) and Jaka, (driver) in their boat in the waters of Batam.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Monday February 15, 1999, Athens, Greece

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Flames engulf Kurd Akar Sehard Azir, 33, after he set himself on fire during a demonstration outside the Greek parliament in central Athens on Monday, February 15, 1999. Since Abdullah Ocalan the leader of PKK was captured in the Greek embassy of Kenya and was already in his way to Turkey, members of the PKK were demanding that Greece offer political asylum to their Kurdish leader. In a sign of passions that this would arouse among Ocalan's supporters Akwar Serhan Aziz was engulfed by flames after he set himself ablaze in front of the Greek parliament in Athens. He was hospitalized with serious burns over 10 percent of his body and second and third degree burns on his face and hands. He poured gasoline over himself and set himself alight when police tried to clear about 50 demonstrators from the street outside the parliament building. The incident occured at about 4 p.m. Police used a fire extiguisher to save Aziz and two of his compatriots whose clothes caught fire because of their proximity to him.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Tuesday December 9, 2003, Athens, Greece

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Members of Greek Police Special Counter-Terrorist Unit (E.K.A.M) exercise somewhere near Athens. Public order personnel have stepped up security exercises in advance of the Athens 2004 Olympics as the Greek government plans to spend more than 650 million Euros for security. Security is a key issue for all host cities and a first priority for the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. ATHENS 2004 is working in close partnership with the Greek Police, the Government and international security experts to apply all the necessary measures and actions for a safe Olympic environment for athletes, spectators and the Olympic Family. The State has assigned the security of the Olympic Games to the Ministry of Public Order, specifically to the Hellenic Police. For this aim, a special self-sufficient Service has been formed, the Olympic Games Security Division (OGSD) that comes directly under the authority of Hellenic Police Chief.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Thursday October 5, 2000, Belgrade, Yugoslavia

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Opposition supporters celebrate outside the burning Yugoslav parliament building. Thousands of protesters milled outside the building, part of a vast opposition rally to demand that President Slobodan Milosevic concede electoral defeat.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Friday July 20, 2001, Genoa, Italy

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A bleeding anti-globalization protestor lies down after clashes between protesters and police in downtown Genoa. Police fired live rounds, tear gas and used water cannon in an attempt to disperse the thousands of protestors who are demonstrating against the G8 summit.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Sunday April 13, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Yannis Kontos portfolio

An Iraqi looter holds a white flag as U.S. Marines arrest him and others in the streets of Baghdad part of an operation of searching the city to arrest looters and try to bring order to the Iraqi capital.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Friday April 18, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Iraqi boy pauses as he passes by a destroyed building in Baghdad. Several buildings across the Iraqi capital were set on fire after looters made off with furniture, carpets and television sets.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia

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Kosovar Albanian children loot houses in Kosovska Mitrovica, June 1999.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Wednesday November 8, 2006, Bratosh, Albania

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Blood feud is an ancient method of resolving conflicts between clans and social groups. The Italian, Cretan and Corsican vendettas are living examples of its application, but rarely has Blood Feud achieved the degree of formal codification as it has in North Albania where Kanun, the Code, regulating "blood feud" has been transmitted from mouth to mouth for centuries and continues to torment Albanian society. In 1997 right after the fall of the pyramid schemes more 1.500 people died in vendettas. During the past fifteen years more than 5.000 families have been involved in blood feud cases, and more than 11.000 Albanians have fled the country to save their lives from blood feud. According to the committee of Nationwide Reconciliation more than 700 families in North Albania are "closed", they remain locked in their homes, because of blood feud. 160 children are held captive in their houses and are forced to abandon school.

Kol Narkay protects his children and the children of his brother Paulin with a gun in his Kula in the village of Bratosh. His family remains closed since 2001, when Narkay returned from Italy to kill Nard Dekai, to avenge the killing of a member of his family.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Kabul, Afghanistan, 4/2002. Afghan horsemen fight over possession of a dead and headless goat as they gallop and try to block others from taking possession of the goat, during a "Buzkashi" event in a Kabul stadium held as part of the new years festivities. The sport is played with a 30 kilo goat and four teams with 12 horsemen on each side competing to place the goat in a circle in order to score points. After more than two decades of war, athletics are making a full-force comeback in Afghanistan. With men's participation in sports scorned under Taliban rule, athletes are now coming out of the woodwork to use Kabul Sports Stadium for its original purpose instead of the executions witnessed there in recent years. Soccer balls are being kicked, weights are being lifted, volleyballs are being spiked. Afghanistan was banned in 1999 from participating in the Olympics, but hope for a 2004 Olympic showing prevails. Athletes lack money yet choose to training even in inadequate conditions. Credit : Yannis Kontos / GAMMA

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Thursday October 10, 2002, Islamabad, Pakistan

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Pakistani prostitute dances in Lahore's red light district.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Saturday November 10, 2001, Khwaja-Bahauddin, Afghanistan

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A poor Afghan woman hidden beneath her yellow burqa, begs for money in the suburbs of the northern alliance-held town of Khwaja-Bahauddin. Afghan women, who have been excluded from most of the country's social and professional life under the rule of the ultra-conservative Taliban government, have borne the brunt of the health crisis. For every 1,000 live births, 165 mothers die, the world's second highest maternal mortality rate.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Monday May 8, 2006, Pujathan, Kavre, Nepal

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Just when it seems that revolutionary communism has all but disappeared in the world, Nepal's Maoist rebels seem to grow stronger and stronger. Since 1996 Nepal's Maoists, insurgents who follow the teachings of Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, have been engaged in a bloody conflict with the Nepali government. Their demands? Redistribute land, extend power centers into rural areas, eliminate the caste system, give equal rights to women, and institute a communist republic. It is estimated that they now have between 10,000 to 15,000 fighters and thousands of supporters as they are active across the country, with many parts completely under their control. The kingdom of Nepal, once known as a peaceful Hindu kingdom blessed by the peaks of the Himalaya, has over the last decade plunged into chaos and tragedy. Rifle-bearing Maoist troops and supporters control 70% of the country's rural areas, gaining success through a mix of intimidation, guerilla-style attacks, and the promotion of a class-based revolution modeled on the principles of Mao Zedong. Since the civil war began, nearly 13,000 Nepalis, most of them civilians, have died. The communist rebels and the incumbent King Gyanendra's Forces have reached a stalemate: the Maoists control most of Nepal's countryside, while the king's government are entrenched in the cities. The Maoist insurrection has its stronghold in the Himalayan unreachable hillsides. Many of the PLA soldiers, recruited from villages under the Maoists' control, are under 18.

A female Maoist rebel walks amid misty mountains while on dawn patrol near the village of Pujathan. At least 1/3 of the Maoist fighting forces are made up of young women. The Maoists are fighting for a redistribution of land and political power, but one of their main tenets is also the liberation of women. The traditional role of Nepalese women in the the countryside is very subservient to the males, and the young female fighters make this their main cause.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Sunday November 13, 2005, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. In fact, it has the lowest average income in the world, unemployment is at 80% and AIDS plagues the country. With prostitution the only profession able to yield high incomes such as one dollar per day, the beauties of Sierra Leone have a chance to escape the currently lousy living conditions. Miss Paddy's Beauty Contest, one of the mushrooming beauty pageants in Freetown, is giving them the chance. However, the country's endemic official corruption is very popular even at the beauty contests. In front of flashing camera lights, and scribbling reporters, the girls' pageant are passing in front of an audience of 3000 people, all dressed up in their best clothes, themselves competing with the 10 candidates in splendor. As long as the competition lasts, they shout, laugh, clean their meal, chicken and rice, from their rings and teeth, throw money to the girls of the dancing companies that salvage them from boredom in between parades, exhibiting the local haute couture's latest casual and beach wear, Africana and executive dresses and evening gowns, and listen carefully to the beauties answering the committee's bizarre questions. The girl who wins has a bright new future to face, a new career where she will only worry about make-up secrets, self-improvement tricks to radiate glamour, confidence and health and anti-aging facelift products.

A contestant pauses at the dressing room prior to her appearance at Miss Paddy's 2005 Beauty Contest in Freetown.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Saturday November 12, 2005, Koidu, Kono, Sierra Leone

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Sierra Leone is one of the world's richest countries in diamond mineral deposits. Throughout the civil war that lasted a decade and left some 50,000 dead, the illicit diamonds, known as "blood diamonds" for their role in funding conflicts, had become the main source of income for the rebels while gem "hunters" encouraged the continuation of the fighting. The illicit diamond and weapons trade, which increased during the war in combination with the presence of private armies and mercenaries to protect the diamond fields made many people say the discovery of diamonds "has not been a blessing but a curse". Today, despite the signing of the peace agreement and the formation of an International War Crimes Tribunal, Sierra Leone, once Africa's wealthiest country, remains the second poorest country in the World. Every child born will never see in its lifetime Ð average life expectancy is 36 years Ð medication or vaccinations. At the same time special analysts estimate that Sierra Leone will continue to fill jewelers shop windows with diamonds worth $300 - $450 million per year. It's clear that there is still much to be done to ensure that diamond mining benefits the people of Sierra Leone and that consumers around the globe can buy diamonds that are truly "clean".

A 5 carat diamond is seen in the palm of a dealer's hand in Koidu.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Tuesday January 17, 2006, Sonora, Mexico

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Congress members in Washington continue to struggle with how to control illegal immigration across the U.S./Mexican border, approving the construction of a 700 mile fence and considering a variety of proposals including denying citizenship to babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants and requiring the more than 7 million employers in the U.S. to check the legal status of workers. In recent years, a surge of Latin-American immigrants have poured through the United States' southwest border with Mexico. In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2005, some 135,000 non-Mexican immigrants were apprehended - nearly three times as many as in all of 2003. For those Americans living near it and for the border agents who patrol it as well as the immigrants who risk everything crossing it, the border remains a dangerous and troubling locale.

Immigrants walk past the barbed wire border fence, into the United States at the crossing point of Puerta San Miguel.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Sunday January 22, 2006, Arizona, USA

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Congress members in Washington continue to struggle with how to control illegal immigration across the U.S./Mexican border, approving the construction of a 700 mile fence and considering a variety of proposals including denying citizenship to babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants and requiring the more than 7 million employers in the U.S. to check the legal status of workers. In recent years, a surge of Latin-American immigrants have poured through the United States' southwest border with Mexico. In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2005, some 135,000 non-Mexican immigrants were apprehended - nearly three times as many as in all of 2003. For those Americans living near it and for the border agents who patrol it as well as the immigrants who risk everything crossing it, the border remains a dangerous and troubling locale.

A group of recently-arrested immigrants are led away after being spotted on the U.S. side of the border by members of the Minutemen organization. A border patrol helicopter flies overhead.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Friday April 13, 2007, Athens, Greece

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Dakis Ioannou, Art Collector.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Halutza, Israel, 15/01/2001. Opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon (R) accompanied by his security people tours of the Halutza Sands area near the southern Israeli village of Kmehin, in the Negev desert. Sharon is leading Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in opinion polls ahead of elections slated for Feb. 6. Credit : Yannis Kontos / GAMMA

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Wednesday May 9, 2007, Athens, Greece

Yannis Kontos portfolio

Apostolia Papadamaki, Choreographer.

Credit: Yannis Kontos / Polaris

Yannis Kontos

Yannis Kontos was born in Ioannina, Greece in 1971. A freelance professional photojournalist, Yannis Kontos has been associated with the French international agencies SYGMA (1998-2000) and GAMMA (2001-2002) and the American POLARIS IMAGES from its inception to date. He has gone on dozens of long assignments in many parts of the planet, from Palestine and Israel to West Sahara and Sierra Leone, and from North Korea and Indonesia to Iran and Colombia. He has covered events like the recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, the political change in former Yugoslavia and the crisis in South Lebanon in 2000, the anti-globalization demonstrations in Genoa in 2001, the conflicts over the disputed territory of Kashmir on the India-Pakistan border in 2002, the Olympic Games of Athens, the problem of immigrants on the US-Mexican borders, the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005 and the life of Maoist guerrillas in Nepal. His photographs, texts and interviews have been published in such major foreign publications as Time, Newsweek, Life, The New York Times, Stern, Der Spiegel, Nouvel Observateur, Paris Match, L’Express, Le Monde, Liberation, The Independent, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Observer, GEO, L' Espresso, Panorama, La Republica, El Pais, etc.

1988 - 1994

Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaloniki

1984 - 1991

Greek and international awards in rowing. 3rd international place in Men's Junior Coxed Pair, World Junior Championship, Szeged, Hungary, 1989.

1996 - 2001

Dept. of Photography, School of Graphic Arts and Art Studies, Technological Educational Institute of Athens.

2001

World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass, Rotterdam, Netherlands (following an international competition).

Hostile Environments & HSE-Approved Emergency First Aid Training Course, Centurion Risk Assessment Services, England.

2003 Seminar on Biochemical Warfare, Armed Forces’ School of Special Warfare, Athens.

2005-2006 Postgraduate studies, Master of Arts in Photographic Journalism, University of Westminster, London, on a Greek state scholarship.

Selected Awards & Distinctions:

World Press Photo, First Prize, Contemporary Issues Singles, 2006.

Pictures of the year, First Prize, Magazine Feature Picture, 2006.

Marco Luchetta Press Award, Miran Hrovatin Award, First Prize, 2007.

Médicos del Mundo, 10th Luis Valtueña Award, 1st Prize, 2006.

N.P.P.A. The Best of Photojournalism, Honorable Mention, International News Picture Story, 2006.

DAYS JAPAN International Photojournalism Awards, Readers’ Prize 2006.

Botsis Journalism Awards, Honorable mention, 2006.

Spider Awards Black & White, Merit of Excellence, Photojournalism, 2006.

Fujifilm European Press Photographer of the Year, Europe, 2005.

Fujifilm European Press Photographer of the Year, Features, 2004.

Pictures of the year, Third Prize, Feature Picture, 2003. Grazia Neri, Yann Geffroy Award, First Prize, 2003.

UNICEF Photo of the Year Award, Honorable mention, 2002.

Pictures of the year, Third Prize, Portrait, 2001.

UNICEF Photo of the Year Award, Honorable mention, 2001.

Pictures of the year, Award of Excellence, Issue Reporting Picture story, 2001.

N.P.P.A. The Best of Photojournalism, 1st Prize, Feature Picture Story, 2001.

Life magazine’s Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards, News Category, 2000.

Pictures of the year, Award of Excellence, News Picture Story, 1999.

Pictures of the year, Award of Excellence, Global News, 1999.

Selected Individual Exhibitions:

North Korea: Red Utopia

-Frissiras Museum, Athens 2007.

Possible / Impossible: Aporias.

-Frissiras Museum, Athens 2007.

US/Mexico Border Crossing

-Canon Exhibition Hall, Visa Pour l’image, Perpignan 2006.

Yannis Kontos: Photojournalist

- Kythera Photographic Encounters, Kythera 2005.

- Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki, 2005.

- 12th International Month of Photography, Athens, 2005.

- Foundation for Thracian Art and Tradition, Xanthi, 2005.

Kabul Photographers

-Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki, 2004.

Group Exhibitions (Selection):

World Press Photo Exhibition

- World Press Photo, international itinerant exhibition in 100 cities, 2006.

Fresh Ground #2

- Thanassis Frissiras Gallery, Athens 2006.

The Human Condition: After Effects

- Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, 2003.

My Brother’s Image

- Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki, 2002.

Identity

- 8th Joop Swart Masterclass exhibition, Nederlands Foto Institute, Rotterdam 2001.

Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History

- Bellevue Art Museum, Washington 2000.

- PhotoESPANA, Madrid 2000.

The Chronicle of Destruction

- Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki, 2000.

Bibliography:

- “Red Utopia - Photographs from North Korea”, Kastaniotis Publishing, 2007.

- “Possible / Impossible: Aporias”, Kastaniotis Publishing, 2007.

Personal web site of Yannis Kontos