«Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs» @Onassis Stegi

Onassis Stegi, Athens, presents a major exhibition of photographs by the award-winning filmmaker and photographer, including the international premiere of a new body of work made in Lanthimos’ native Greece

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Exploring a new evolution in Yorgos Lanthimos’ oeuvre, which stretches beyond his filmmaking, this exhibition celebrates his expanding worlds in over 180 photographs

“Taking photos has become an important thing in my life other than filmmaking, it is so much freer. It feels like there are fewer rules tied to conventional narrative.”

– Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos Lanthimos is celebrated for his world-building and absurdist explorations of human relationships, establishing him as one of the most distinctive auteurs in contemporary cinema. Now at Onassis Stegi, Athens, we are about to experience a rare artistic event:Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs, the largest exhibition of Lanthimos’ photographs ever presented in an institutional context. This exhibition offers the public an unprecedented encounter with a visual language already celebrated and acclaimed, here unfolding in a different medium – a cinematic gaze that captures fleeting moments and holds them in the stillness of immortality.

Onassis Stegi has demonstrated a sustained interest in photography through a number of notable past exhibitions, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Christian Boltanski, and Juergen Teller. In his first collaboration with Onassis Stegi, Lanthimos brings together four bodies of 182 still photographs made over the past five years, offering new perspectives and insight on this unique and singular visionary.

The show includes three photographic series born from the spaces of Lanthimos’ cinema, made on the fringes of film locations in New Orleans, Atlanta and Henley-on-Thames, and in the recreated cities built as sets on soundstages in Budapest. Many of the photographs appear in his recent books: “Dear God, the Parthenon Is Still Broken” (2024), comprised of photographs made during the filming of “Poor Things” (2023), and “i shall sing these songs beautifully” (2024), made alongside “Kinds of Kindness” (2024) and “viscin” (2026). Also included are previously unseen photographs made on the set of his latest film “Bugonia” (2025).

The fourth body of work is the international premiere of an ongoing series of personal photographs made in his native Greece. Compiled during solitary walks around the edges of the city of Athens and on visits to Greek islands, Lanthimos brings a quiet, meditative eye to focus on the quotidian and mundane, harnessing the medium’s capacity for abstraction and transformation.

Across all of Lanthimos’ photography is a contemplative engagement with the banal and the familiar. He presents this matter-of-factness of subjects with exquisite clarity and intimacy, representing the world as particular and complex. In a similar vein to his filmmaking, what emerges is a language that is a record of its own making, a luminous picture of phenomena.

Designed in the form of a classical Greek temple, the show creates a central altar-like space which displays 110 new works by Lanthimos, while the outer perimeter presents three bodies of work linked to Lanthimos’ films, so audiences move from his known practice to the inner core of new photographic work.

Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs is curated by Michael Mack and commissioned and produced by Onassis Stegi.To coincide with the exhibition opening, Yorgos Lanthimos will launch his new photo book viscin (2026).

Michael Mack, curator of this exhibition, comments:

“Yorgos Lanthimos is a singular talent in the use of a camera lens to build narratives, and this exhibition establishes his flourishing capacity to elicit emotional and intellectual leaps of faith beyond the frame of a still photograph. The ongoing series of black-and-white works made in Greece away from his filmmaking practice marks a new departure, a turning inwards to a known landscape. Emerging within a long tradition of photography applied to document the man-altered landscape, it also reflects an era of self-reflection and of his advanced progress in developing his own language in photography.”

Curated by: Michael Mack

Exhibition design by Loukas Bakas
European premiere: Onassis Stegi

Commissioned and produced by: Onassis Stegi

Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos Lanthimos is an internationally renowned, five-time Academy Award-nominated director, producer, and screenwriter, as well as the winner of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, the Jury Prize at Cannes, and the Golden Lion at Venice.

Lanthimos’ acclaimed filmography includes “Kinetta,” “Dogtooth,” “Alps,” “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Favourite,” “Poor Things, and “Kinds of Kindness.”

Born in Athens, Greece, Lanthimos began his career directing dance theater films, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films, and theater plays. Outside of filmmaking, Lanthimos is an accomplished photographer, having photographed a number of editorials and fashion brand campaigns, and has published two photography books: “Dear God, the Parthenon is still broken” (VOID) and “i shall sing these songs beautifully” (Mack). In March 2026, Yorgos Lanthimos will launch his new photo book “viscin”.

ABOUT ONASSIS CULTURE

Culture is not just art; it is a way of life at Onassis Culture. With the Onassis Stegi (stegi means “roof” and “shelter” in Greek), an emblematic performing arts and exhibition venue in Athens, the Onassis Foundation encourages the talent and energy of local and international artists to thrive and starts conversations that aim to shake and shape society. Since 2010, it has showcased over 15,000 performances in theater, dance, music, and art. Onassis Stegi has grown into a global hub for contemporary culture, fostering meaningful conversations on democracy, social justice, equality, and LGBTQIA+ rights through a wide range of initiatives and works. Aiming at the visibility of Greek artists, the Touring program of Onassis Culture has presented more than 100 productions and co-productions in over 220 cities across 72 countries around the world, with more than 1,200 performances. In 2025, the Onassis Foundation introduced a new venue to the Athenian art scene: Onassis Ready is a creative haven for people who want to think and experiment, for artists who wish to research and rehearse before their productions reach the stage, and for creators who simply need time.

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