Michalis Karagiannis was born in Athens in 1966. He has studied in Focus School of Photography. With more than 20 years of experience in photojournalism, he works as a freelance photographer. He is a founding member of Phasma News Agency, Phasma2 Photo Group and Photojournalists Union of Greece. His work has been published in the N.Y. Times, Newsweek, 6Mois, Εconomist, El Mundo. He has covered assignments in Gaza (Palestine), Egypt, Turkey and Syria. Since 2015 he has been working with Reuters. He has taken part in group and individual exhibitions in Taf Gallery, Rethemno Museum of Modern Art and the Sarajevo Festival (2015-1st prize). His last exhibition was on the refugee and migrant crisis (2016-2017) under auspices of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation in Athens and Brussels.
In liberated Kobani
In February 2015, Kurdish militants, with military assistance provided by NATO forces, liberated the city of Kobani in Syria, after hard combats. It was the first great success of the coalition forces that prevailed over the Islamic State military units. I had the chance to be one of the first journalists who entered the ruined city of Kobani, stayed with the Kurdish militants for a while and followed their military operations in the region.