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BIOGRAPHY

Yiorgos Michael is a self-taught visual artist and poet whose work explores themes of identity, aging, emotional constraint, and the fragile architecture of presence. Working at the intersection of post-documentary and conceptual photography, he constructs emotionally charged image sequences that blur the boundary between metaphor and memory.

His photographic practice combines portraiture, performance, and spatial symbolism. Often, he stages quiet, psychologically resonant moments within transient or intimate environments—hotel rooms, thresholds, and unremarkable corners where solitude becomes theatrical. His visual language draws on the atmospheric subtlety of Pictorialism, the experimental abstraction of László Moholy-Nagy, and the introspective emotionality of Francesca Woodman and Duane Michals.

Alongside his creative work, Yiorgos holds a doctorate and teaches finance. He brings his analytical skills, critical thinking, and research sensibility to his art, approaching image-making as an inquiry into emotional systems and hidden structures of perception.

In parallel with his visual work, Yiorgos writes bilingual poetry in Greek and English, echoing the same emotional, philosophical, and spatial concerns found in his photographs. Across both mediums, he investigates the unseen: absence, fragmentation, ritual, and the tension between disappearance and visibility.

Yiorgos currently lives and works between Cyprus and the United States.

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Awards and Recognitions

 2025

  • European Photography Awards – Gold Winner – Someplace / Not Here / Still There, But Not

  • Monochrome Awards – Honorable Mention – to catch a storm

  • Monochrome Awards – Honorable Mention – gray wall

  • Annual Photography Awards (APA) – Honorable Mention – words, they stick (Someplace / Not Here / Still There, But Not)

  • Praxis Photo Arts Center – Honorable Mention – Motion Blur Group Exhibition

  • One Exposure Awards – Honorable Mention (Fine Art) and Nominee (Conceptual) – Someplace / Not Here / Still There, But Not

 

 2024

  • European Photography Awards – Platinum & Gold Winner – to catch a storm

  • ND Awards – Honorable Mention – to catch a storm

  • Black & White Spider Awards – Honorable Mention – to catch a storm

  • London International Creative Competition (LICC) – Official Selection – to catch a storm, gray wall, and F3S (Someplace / Not Here / Still There, But Not)

  • International Photography Awards (IPA) – Official Selection – One Shot: Searching for Peace – more peace

  • One Shot: Searching for Peace – Official Selection – more peace

 

 2023

  • ND Awards – Honorable Mention – burnt

  • London International Creative Competition (LICC) – Finalist – never a sound of building

  • International Photography Awards (IPA) – Official Selection – never a sound of building

 

 2022

  • ND Awards – Honorable Mention – a gray wall


Exhibitions (selected group shows)​

  • Praxis Photo Arts Center, “Motion Blur,” Mineappolis, 2025

  • Agora Gallery, New York, 2025

  • Art Number 23, Design Festa Gallery, Tokyo, 2024

  • BBA Gallery, Berlin, 2024

  • D31 Gallery, UK (“Nostalgia”), 2022 x​

 

Workshops and Masterclasses​

 

Features and Media Mentions​

Contact Information: ymkollective@gmail.com

  • Instagram

All rights reserved. The copyright for any material published on this website is reserved. Any duplication or use of objects such as images, photos and texts is not permitted without Yiorgos Michael written agreement.

Website built by Isaac Azulay

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