Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos has opened a new photography exhibition in Athens, showcasing his personal work taken across Greece over the past few years. The show, held at the Onassis Stegi cultural centre, features images that capture the country through the filmmaker's absurdist lens, including a coffin propped against a wall beside a mop and horses whose heads are obscured by foregrounded trees.
Lanthimos, known for films such as Poor Things and The Favourite, says the photographs are not directly connected to his movies but offer an escape from the pressures of filmmaking. The exhibition also includes earlier works linked to his films, such as portraits of Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Jerrod Carmichael taken during the production of Poor Things, which reveal the lighting rigs and scaffolding typically hidden from view.
Emma Stone, a frequent collaborator, assisted Lanthimos in processing negatives in a makeshift darkroom set up in his hotel bathroom. The director notes that the nightly routine became a calming ritual after long days on set. Stone was reportedly distressed after accidentally scratching some prints, but Lanthimos embraced the imperfections, selecting one image specifically because of the marks.
The exhibition coincides with the release of Lanthimos's new book Viscin, which includes photographs taken during the filming of his upcoming movie Bugonia. Despite the timing, Lanthimos insists the book has little to do with the film itself, describing it as a separate creative outlet.
