I walked into the exhibition quietly, but with high expectations. I knew the work of these photographers well, and I have never really stepped away from street photography. It continues to shape how I look and how I notice people. I still return to their images when I teach, not as references, but as reminders of how little it takes for a photograph to hold, and how much depends on where you choose to stand.
The exhibition brings together the work of Constantine Manos, Nikos Economopoulos, and Enri Canaj. What emerges is not a simple progression, but a way of working that carries across generations while staying close to the same questions.
Curator Hercules Papaioannou describes it as both a proposal and a tribute, using street photography as its backbone to connect three generations of photographers through their relationship with Greece and their shared link to Magnum Photos.
That continuity is shaped by a way of working grounded in time and proximity. What matters is how each photographer carries it forward.
With Constantine Manos, the sense of form is immediate. A young woman sits slightly elevated, her body folded inward, her gaze directed beyond the frame, while others gather around her. The image feels composed without losing its immediacy. What stays with you is the quiet intensity of presence, the way each figure occupies their place without needing to assert it.
In the work of Nikos Economopoulos, that closeness begins to shift. A man turns slightly away, a butterfly resting on his shoulder, almost unnoticed, while the world continues around him. The moment feels precise but unresolved. You are close, but not fully inside it. The photograph holds back just enough to keep you looking.
By the time you reach Enri Canaj, that shift becomes more pronounced. A child swings beneath a metal structure, the landscape stretching behind him. You remain aware of where you stand in relation to the scene. The image does not try to close that distance. It lets it remain.
Seen together, these works begin to speak across time. Certain gestures return. Attention moves toward what might otherwise go unnoticed. Each photographer, in a different way, resists forcing meaning onto what is already there.
This is why I keep returning to this kind of work, and why I bring it into the classroom. Not as something to imitate, but as something you come to understand over time.
A photograph does not need to resolve anything in order to matter. It only needs to hold its ground.
Exhibition Details
“Three Paths: Constantine Manos, Nikos Economopoulos, Enri Canaj”
MOMUS – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
February 19 – May 24, 2026
The Photographers
Constantine Manos (1934–2025)
A Greek-American photographer born in South Carolina to immigrant parents, Manos began working at a young age as the official photographer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He later worked for Life, Look, and Esquire, and joined Magnum Photos in 1963. His early work in Greece, published as A Greek Portfolio, remains one of the most enduring photographic records of the country in the postwar years. His photographs are held in major museum collections in the United States and Greece.
Nikos Economopoulos (b. 1953)
Born in the Peloponnese, Economopoulos first worked as a journalist before turning fully to photography. He joined Magnum Photos in 1990 and spent years traveling across the Balkans, photographing borders, migration, and communities living on the edges of larger political changes. His book In the Balkans became a defining work of that period, shaped by long-term observation rather than quick access.
Enri Canaj (b. 1980)
Born in Tirana and raised in Greece after his family relocated in the early 1990s, Canaj belongs to a generation shaped directly by migration. He later studied photography in Athens and worked closely with Nikos Economopoulos before joining Magnum Photos. His work has been published internationally and often returns to questions of identity, movement, and everyday life across Europe.
About the Author
Vasiliki Eleftheriou is a photographer and the founder of the photography school Photoglobe in Thessaloniki. She works with people and everyday moments, and brings the same way of looking into her teaching.